


Where Assassins dare to dream

by Candihunta_84



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2019-07-03 17:11:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15823332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candihunta_84/pseuds/Candihunta_84
Summary: Lexa is an assassin, taken from birth and raised and trained to be a stone cold killer. She has always been the best. The best fighter, the hardest worker, always focused and excelling at every task she is set.But she is hiding a secret, for as long as she can remember she has been having dreams of a blonde haired blue eyed girl. Brief glimpses of the life of a normal person, something she would never have.AndDr Clarke Griffin is a medical researcher working hand in hand with her parents who are both accomplished biomedical scientists, on a revolutionary new treatment for radiation sickness. Close to a major breakthrough the family has sparked interest from competing companies one of which will stop at nothing to get their hands on the Griffins research





	1. Just another day in the life of

Laying on the rooftop of a high rise building in Seattle with your hair whipping around your face in the wind, which is always stronger this high up with nothing to break it. Might not be most people’s idea of a typical friday night. But Lexa has become accustomed to positions like this.  
As the world continues about its business of preparing for the weekend, leaving their nine to five jobs to spend time with their families or to go on weekend getaways or maybe sitting at home alone with a bottle of wine or a case of beer and ordering enough take out food for a couple of days binge watching the latest show trending on Netflix.

Or like the people in the building opposite her, out partying the night away blowing their own trumpet’s about how charitable they are and how much they care about whatever cause they have invented this month to feel better about their overprivileged yet insignificant, miserable little lives. Lexa had infiltrated enough of those events to know how fake it all was and was more then happy not to have to be amongst it. Her perch high above on the next building far more to her liking.

Taking a moment to reposition herself for a better view and shove the flyaway strands of hair back under her black beanie Lexa brings the scope of her Remington XM2010 enhanced sniper rifle back to up and watches the people in their over the top expensive gowns and tuxedos, as if they were attending a red carpet event instead of a charity function flutter around to make ridiculously large bids on mediocre prizes in a silent auction. She watched as they gathered and talked, she watched as they swept up champaign and tiny bites of food from passing trays, she even watched the occasional couple sneaking off in to dark corners to make out or out of side doors to do god knows what. None of which interested her in the slightest.

Glancing back down at the photo of her target, a middle aged looking man with, almond shaped brown eyes, a finely maintained goatee beard and short cropped black hair oiled down to what lexa thought resembled a helmet. She once again swept the crowd looking for the face of the man she was supposed to blow to hell. It’s not like the guy wasn’t going to show up since according to her information this is his event. Not that she felt she needed those details she was only ever concerned about the who, when and where, not what they did, why they’re being targeted and what they had for breakfast. Just another assignment, kill and make your exit.

Tonights exit in particular was something she was actually looking forward to. A little more daring and interesting then her usual approach, which would be to calmly and quietly slip away, a tactic not really suited to this very public assassination.  
All going well she will take her shot and be off the other side of the building and on the street, hot footing it to her extraction point a few blocks west. But before that fun can begin she actually has to get the guy in her sights.  
Finally after a few more glances of every face she can find she zero’s in on him. He is standing in a crowd of people, hands moving animatedly as he speaks with them. It’s not a clean enough shot, too many people who could move into the line of fire so she keeps him in the cross hairs and waits. She only has one chance at this so she has to make the shot count, there can be no risk of missing and no collateral damage. Not that she cares so much about collateral damage but in this case the moment that shot rings out there will be caos, people will scatter, security will be everywhere and she will miss her opportunity. Plus she is only getting paid for one body and Lexa does not do freebies.

After about 30 minutes of carefully tracking tonight’s mark she sees the perfect shot and takes it, squeezing the trigger without hesitation she watches as the intended victim collapses to the ground at the same time the boom from the gun starts bouncing off of buildings. The second he his body hit the floor she was moving, It takes less than a minute to disassemble and pack up her rifle and run to the rope on the other side of the roof that she had set up once she had found her perch. She quickly attaches to the rope and abseils down the side of the almost 450 feet tall, 34 story skyscraper. Running in the direction of her pick up the moment her feet hit the ground. 

Lexa was off the roof and gone before most people had even registered that a gunshot could be heard echoing around, before the shock of the window exploding in from the bullet had worn off and before the first screams had started once people began to realise that their host who had moments before been chatting and merry, basking in his own success was now just a limp, bloody body at their feet.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

A couple of hours later, after making a clean getaway and dropping her gear back to HQ Lexa was back at her apartment, kicking her shoes off just inside the front door and shedding her jacket, she makes a beeline for the refrigerator slinging the jacket over the back of a chair and grabs a bottle of cold water before making her way to the couch and kicking her feet up on the coffee table. She glances around the sparse, empty space and wonders for a minute what it might be like to come back home to a partner or a dog or a cat after a normal day at a normal job. 

Scoffing and rolling her eyes at herself for her brief moment of weakness, knowing full well that she would never have a normal anything she picks up the well worn copy of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ that she had been reading in what little down time she had and flipped through the pages to find where she had left off. She was only a few pages in before she fell asleep, apparently more tired than she thought she was after the nights activities. With her face slack and relaxed in slumber, the book still being held tight in one hand having fallen over her chest that was rising and falling in a deep rhythm, the other hand sprawled out to the side. Lexa’s eyes starting to dance behind her closed eyelids as the beginnings of the dream came to life in her unconscious mind.

She was at a bar making her way unnoticed through a small crowd her eyes darting around for the person she knew she would be here, It didn’t take long to find who she was looking for. Across the room sat a beautiful woman, with long curled blonde hair, a delicate porcelain complexion, the most beautiful lips Lexa had ever seen with a small beauty mark sitting just off to one side and clearest, bluest eyes she could ever imagine. She knew this face almost as well as she knew her own having grown up staring at it regularly. Although she had never met this woman, did not know her name and had never laid eyes on her outside of her dreams. Dreams that she had been having from as early as she can remember, always just outside of the scene, observing. 

Tonight she was talking to some people that Lexa vaguely remembers from previous dreams, she can’t hear the conversation through the din of the bar and the rushing of blood through her own ears but she watches as the blonde laughs and watches as her hands move while she speaks, She watches her brow wrinkle slightly when someone says something Lexa guesses is thought provoking, She watches the little upturn of her mouth before she captures her bottom lips between teeth, a habit Lexa has come to appreciate the esthetic of over the years.  
And she watches as those starting blue eyes get torn away from the group she is with and lock with Lexa’s

Lexa shoots up from the couch, her book crashing to the floor now wide awake with her breathing heavy and laboured, It always ends the same.   
No matter where the dream takes place or what happens throughout. Those stunning eyes will snap up to hers and the microsecond they make contact, Bam! Lexa is awake and panting like she just sprinted 10 miles. 

“It’s not real” She tells herself “It’s not real. None of this is real” she repeats. It’s the same thing she tells herself every time it’s happened over the last 24 years of her life.  
Lexa gets up from the couch, trying to shake the images of her dream girl off now that her breathing had significantly calmed and headed toward the shower to wash the day as well as the latest dream away.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The bar, although reasonably small seemed to be a popular spot, Clarke had given in to her friends incessant nagging and agreed to meet them out for a long overdue catch up and a few drinks. If she were being honest with herself she needed the break, she had been so engrossed in the research project she was working on that lately it had been taking up almost all of her time, inside and outside of work.

There were several small TVs around the bar showing various sports, although no one seemed to be paying them any attention, obviously here more for the company and atmosphere rather then the latest game, every so often Clarke’s attention would get pulled to one of the screens in her line of sight and she would just zone out for a minute before looking around some more while sipping at her drink. This is what happens when you arrive early to meet friends who were notoriously late.

Flicking her attention back to one of the small screens when people watching got boring she noticed that the football game that had been playing had been interrupted by a live breaking news cast, Although the volume was down and she couldn’t hear the story she could see that the reporter seemed to be standing in downtown Seattle in front of one of the more recognisable skyscrapers in the city. She read the text as it scrolled across the bottom of the screen.  
“Breaking news; businessman and entrepreneur Garrett Williams gunned down at Charity Gala. A single gunshot to the head from a nearby building. Authorities believe it to a deliberate and calculated assassination”

Clarke’s concentration was broken by the arrival of her friends.  
“Hey! What up nerd?” Octavia Blake, Her oldest friend having grown up together called out as Clarke got up from her seat to greet them wrapping her up in a friendly hug.  
Pulling back from Octavia she turned to greet Octavia’s older brother Bellamy in a matching hug  
“You looked a little out of it there Princess, Everything ok?” Bellamy asked as he pulled her against his chest and squeezed just a little too hard.

Clarke rolled her eyes at the old nickname and gave him a little shove as she stepped away and sent him a half hearted glower “Don’t call me that you jerk” she huffed “seriously you wear a fairy princess costume to one stupid birthday party and you never live it down”

Bellamy immediately began to chuckle, shaking his head he replied “nevermind the fact that the aforementioned party wasn't fancy dress”

Clarke huffed and deliberately turned her back on him throwing her reply over her shoulder as she moved to greet the her remaining to friends Jasper and Monty. “Stop sounding like such a lawyer Bell, seriously? Aforementioned?”

Bellamy chucked again throwing his hands up “But I am a Lawyer!”

Having greeted and exchanged pleasantries with each of her friends the group sat down to a round of drinks and spent some time catching up, Laughing and poking fun at each other and as the hours went by Clarke felt herself relax and unwind more and more her mind finally completely free of work for the first time in a long time. This was exactly what the doctor ordered and Clarke should know, she was the doctor.

There were moments throughout the night when Clarke could swear she was being watched but it is a busy night and just about anyone could have taken notice and watched her for a moment or two it wouldn't be surprising. Clarke knows what the sight of a pretty blonde will do to most people and she isn't shy about acknowledging the fact that she is a damn fine specimen.   
So she shakes the feeling off each time and refocuses on her friends until she feels an all too familiar tingle shoot through her spine and land on the back of her neck, a feeling she has on more than one occasion referred to as her spidey sense. Because yes she is kind of a nerd.

The moment Clarke felt that tell tale tingle her eyes snap up searching, moving on instinct and for a fraction of a second she locks onto a pair of familiar green eyes. The same damn haunting green eyes she sees everytime this happens.   
Clarke gasps and closes her eyes trying to shake off the experience, her friends noticing her shift in demeanor immediately ask if she’s ok.   
Opening her eyes and regarding her friends she gives them what she hopes is a reassuring smile and lets them know that she is just tired and should be heading home.

After saying her goodbyes to her friends and booking herself a Lyft home Clarke exits the bar and spends the entire ride home obsessing about those eyes and trying to convince herself that its not real just something that happens when she a little overtired or over worked or stressed. Nothing to worry about just the result of tiredness.

Walking in to her loft apartment Clarke kicks her shoes off, leaving them at the front door and heads direct to her room to change in to the most comfortable pair of sweats she can find a matching grey set with the UCSD logo printed on them, having owned them since her freshman year in college they were soft and well worn.   
Dumping the clothes she wore out for the night in the laundry hamper off to the side of her bed she then moves to the bathroom, quickly brushing her teeth.

Stopping to stare at her own reflection, she studies her own eyes mentally comparing them to the striking green eyes she’s been haunted by for most of her life. Other than the obvious difference in hue, hers being a clear, crisp blue. Clarke noticed that her own eyes seemed to have a spark, a sort of light and energy to them. Where as the deep forest green always seemed dull and almost sad and weighted with with something Clarke just couldn't put her finger on.

Breaking the eye contact she’d made with herself in the mirror she wandered back to the main living area and retrieved her sketchbook and Prismacolor pencils. Making herself comfortable on her couch with her art supplies she spent the rest of the night lost in filling page after page with green eyes. Trying to pinpoint exactly what it is she see’s, or more doesn’t see in them.


	2. Catnip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa goes through the motions and gets straight back to work

Lexa is creature of habit, routine and discipline had been drilled into her throughout her lifetime. Much like the military it's a 5am wake up, her eyes will open and her body will be half way out of bed before she is even properly awake and aware of what’s happening. She will make her bed, get dressed and head to the kitchen for breakfast before heading outside to run. The only difference to her morning routine since she was allowed to move out of the facility she grew up in, well that and the occasional self indulgent cup of coffee. The younger version of herself would be off to the gym with her fellow trainees to start the day’s drills and training, or the day’s torture depending how you looked at it.

Lexa will freely admit she likes the freedom afforded to her now, not many of those recruited into the organisation of assassin’s, who simply referred to themselves as ‘The Syndicate’. An offshoot of the Mercenaries of Calippus of Syracuse a league of Assassins founded in Greece in 354 BC, if the history lessons Lexa along with the other recruits were forced to sit through as part of their studies. Would live this long or get far enough to be allowed this small amount of independence, an apartment of her own and relative freedom to do what she pleased outside of “work”. As long as she kept a low profile and didn’t draw attention to herself.

Lexa liked that she could start her day with a run outside, it gave her a sense of peace, a reprieve from her constantly flowing thoughts and the near permanent weight she felt on her shoulders. A weight she could never allow anyone to see. It wasn’t guilt, she had spent years trying to decide if that’s what this burden she carried was. But no, she had been conditioned to be a warrior, a killer and all sense of guilt had been beaten out of her repeatedly throughout the course of her training. Lexa had long ago accepted that ‘she is, what she is’ and that guilt was not even an option. This weight she felt in her very soul and it was a mystery to her.

The thoughts swirling through her mind while she had been running had distracted her enough that she found herself in a part of town that she would normally try to avoid, but as the world came back into focus around her she realises that she had made her way here quite by accident, she slowed to a stop outside a small hole in the wall coffee shop. Taking in the old brick work around the dark blue door that led into the cafe, Lexa allowed her mind to carry her in to the memory of the first time she had come here. The first time she had ever tried her now guilty little pleasure, Coffee.

_She had not long been out on her own and had been running everyday trying to find a new routine outside of the place she had lived her whole life, but today was bitterly cold and she’d had a shitty night the night before with a near miss on a work related run in. She had let something distract her and it not only almost lost her the target but had almost cost her life. Giving up on her morning run Lexa slowed to a stop and thought “screw it” and walked in to the little cafe she had stopped in front of, thinking she would just get some tea to warm herself up and then head home. One shorter than average run wouldn't mess with her condition._   
_Standing at the counter checking out the megar tea selection she noticed the barista eyeing her from behind the machine. “You look a little lost over there, hun” The dark skinned girl called out, her eyes sparkling as she threw her a flirtatious wink “Maybe I can help?”_   
_Lexa glanced back at the tea on display and relied “I was just thinking about some tea to warm up”_

_The Barista shook her head and her nose wrinkled in barely hidden distaste “Our tea selection is crap and believe me it tastes that way too, No one as hot as you deserves that fate”_   
_Lexa gives the girl a half smile, admiring her audaciousness “Well perhaps you can recommend something else?”_   
_The girl raked her eyes over Lexa, unashamedly checking her out “I think I can help out with that”_   
_Within a few minutes Lexa is being handed a steaming hot take away cup, She peeks inside seeing its a black coffee and raises a questioning eyebrow at the girl._   
_“You strike me as the type to enjoy a Bold, Dark, Full bodied roast, take a sip. Tell me what you think’_

_The double meaning was not lost on Lexa and she gave the girl her own appraising once over before locking their eyes and lifting the cup to her lips, she slowly sips at the dark liquid, which to her surprise was actually quite delicious, Just as slowly she lowers the cup and flicks her eyes down watching the barsita’s throat bob as she gulps in reaction to Lexa’s little show._   
_“Mmm” Lexa hums after a few seconds silence “I think you’re right”_   
_The girls face cracks with a genuine and bright smile, “Lucky I wrote my number on your cup then” She throws Lexa another wink and gets back to work effectively cutting off the conversation. Lexa shifts her gaze down to the cup she’s holding and sure enough in letters as bold as her personality is written Costia and a series of numbers._

_Lexa never did bother to call the barista, not wanting to risk leaving any kind of trail to a personal connection, the first she’d ever had. She did however show back up at the coffee shop later that afternoon, leaning against the wall just outside the door she waited for the girl named Costia to finish her shift and exit, gaining her attention by saying “Hello again, Bold, Dark and Full bodied”_

_Costia turned immediately to look at her, eyebrows raised in surprise and a grin plastered to her face. “Well, Hello yourself. Did you decide you needed another taste?”_   
_Lexa pushed herself off the wall and took a step toward the other girl, “Something like that” she husked as she took another step forward, bringing her well in to Costia’s personal space “I guess you left me with quite the craving”_

_Lexa had to admit to herself that Costia was quite impressive, where most may have backed down or shyed away despite the earlier bravado, she held her ground and with a small quirk of her lips she reached down and took Lexa’s hand and didn’t let go until she had pulled her through the door of her apartment a few blocks away. Lexa spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the early hours of the next morning exploring soft dark skin and generous curves, running her hands through dark, silky curls and coaxing out as many, gasps, sighs, moans, grunts and screams as she could. Knowing this would be the only time she would have the opportunity to indulge with this vivacious woman, anything else would be too dangerous._

Shaking herself from her memories Lexa spared one last glance at the coffee shop and continued on her morning run.

_____________________________________

It was 9am sharp when Lexa entered the office building that served as a front for the Pacific Coast branch of The Syndicate, which on the surface looked to be a pretty unremarkable property management firm. She didn’t have to meet with her handler to debrief for last nights job for another hour but Lincoln, Their resident health specialist, had asked her to stop by to go through the new training and diet regimen he had worked up for her. Lincoln had trained with a group of recruits a few years ahead of Lexa, he was strong and incredibly capable but was transferred from field agent to a trainer, The powers that be deciding he was an ideal candidate to help mould the next generations of Assassins. Lexa had great respect for the man, not only was he a strong sparring partner who could keep her on her toes but he also took the utmost care in personalising each workout and food plan to best fit each of his charges and was one of only a handful of trainers and handlers that treated them with respect, as something more than just a disposable asset.

“Morning Lincoln” Lexa called as she walked in to the large open space full of workout equipment and crash mats, not the facilities only gym and training space but by far her favorite.  
“Lexa hey, Thanks for coming in so fast” Lincoln called back as he waved her over to the little workstation he had set up in one corner, that really just served as a dumping ground for paperwork “I have some fun things for you” he said rifling through the papers littering his desk “Just don’t beat me up when your see the new work out’s”  
Finally finding what he was looking for he passed over a color coded week long training schedule with a four day upper body, lower body split and full body on the days inbetween. Lexa read it over noting the recurring theme of burpees, bear crawls, handstand push ups, toes to bar and pull ups.

“Jesus Christ Linc, Did I do something to piss you off? Because Man if I did I’m sorry, ok?”  
Lincoln let out a genuine, hearty laugh at that “Do my ears deceive me? Or did Lexa, I’ll kill you and your puppy too. Just apologise? But no. You did not piss me off”  
Lexa rolled her eyes at the bear of a man before her and replied “I don’t kill puppies, Lincoln. Even I am not that callous” and again Lincoln couldn't help but to laugh  
“Ok Commander cold, Whatever you say.” Lincoln noticed her bristle slightly at the nickname, Her peers had taken to calling her Commander while she was still in training because of her commanding presence and the way she always seemed to be in complete control of any situation she was faced with and she had a tendency to kick everyone's ass at everything although Lexa was never conceited about her skills she was completely unapologetic for it. The perfect balance of hard work, ability, humility and confidence, something for which Lincoln admired and respected her for.

Lexa had really come to dislike the nickname over the years, Knowing that it was born from a place of animosity from her fellow recruits, often spat out as more of an insult or challenge then in the good natured way Lincoln had used it or the gloating, prideful use of the name from the higher ranking members of the syndicate when selling her as the perfect assassin for a job. So quickly brushed the reference off and instead of replying reached for the second bundle of papers The man was holding. “Is this the new food plan?”  
The change of subject had the desired effect as Lincoln immediately launched in to the details and nutritional value of the meals he had chosen explaining that he had also prepared a shopping list and recipes for each item on the menu.

Lexa knocked on the door to her handlers office at precisely 10am, she was nothing if not punctual. She was met with an immediate reply from a deep voice on the other side of the door “Come in Lexa”. Letting herself in to the office and closing the door behind her she took a seat facing him. Gustus, a tall, muscular and hairy imposing figure of a man had been assigned as Lexa’s handler the day she passed her last field test under the tutelage Anya, of one of the top active agents and an occasional mentor to promising assassins.  
Gustus was always, cooly professional and straight to the point, they had built a good working relationship over the years and had come to respect and even appreciate each other. Which made the tedious task of debriefing on a simple mark like the one the night previous bearable.

Wrapping up with retelling the events of the night before Lexa was halfway out of of her chair and looking forward to getting out the cramped office and on to more productive things when Gustus said “Hold up, There’s a job for you”.  
Lexa dropped back in to the seat with a single eyebrow arched in silent question  
“I know” Gustus answered without further prompting “Its a fast turn over but this one has you written all over it” He passed her a thick file and stood up “I’m going for coffee, you give that a read through”  
She opened the file as he left and heard the door click shut behind her glancing over the front page with the basics of the job written in large print, immediately her eye caught on the location and she cursed “Fucking china? great”

Flipping through the pages of the brief Lexa noted that all the logistical arrangements had been made. Flights and hotel were booked and her alias, fake passport, ID and cover story were all taken care of. She would be Alexia Woodbury a Corporate Lawyer flying in for business. She read through the important notes of who her target is, where they will be staying, the deadline for job to be completed with in and the special requests. The syndicate didn’t just do simple assassinations, certain jobs often required extra attention. Whether it be a specific way of killing or having to torture or make the target suffer first, sometimes there were aspects of industrial espionage or a frame up or like in this case the stealing of important political files and a way to completely discredit the victim.  
Lexa was just starting to skim through the personal information of her newest mark when Gustus came back to his office, coffee in hand and shooed her out “Go see Raven and pick up your credentials. Flights all set for later tonight, i’ll arrange for a drop off to the airport. Call if you run into any trouble, I want regular updates on this one”

“That’s it baby, come to Daddy”  
Lexa froze with her hand poised to knock on the door the voice she just heard had floated through.  
“Oh, Fuck yes!” She heard the same voice again.  
Slowly lowering her hand away from the door and weighing up whether she should stay or go when the door suddenly flung open with Raven standing on the other side with a shit eating grin “I’m Fucking with you Lexa, Come in i wanna show you my new toy” Lexa rolled her eyes but followed the other woman, noticing her limp was a little more pronounced today as she turned and shuffled back in to her office or as Raven kept insisting upon calling it “Raven’s Nest”

Settling back in to her high backed, padded office chair in front of a bank of four huge computer screens she taps a few keys and up pops a high definition video feed showing a fisheye view of the hallway just outside Raven’s office. “This right here is how I knew you were coming”  
Raven spins her chair around to face Lexa, her face beaming proudly.  
Lexa’s eyebrow lifts of its own accord as she replies to Raven, “So you installed a camera?” not quite getting what had her so excited.  
Raven crosses her arms over her chest and her bright smile falters slightly “did you see a camera out there genius?” Lexa thinks back, replaying her approach to Raven’s office trying to remember if she saw a camera out there. Coming up blank she simply shugs and shakes her head no. At Lexa’s admission Raven’s hundred watt smile returned.  
“Go have a little looky-loo, tell me what you see”  
Lexa does as she is told and heads back out to the hallway checking around for a camera or anything out of the ordinary but again she comes up blank “Rae what the hell, There’s nothing out here” she calls out still scanning the hallway trying to spot where the video feed could have been coming from.  
“Look to your right, just above the door” She hears Raven call back.  
Turning to face the doorway of the room she had just exited Lexa looks just above the door frame as instructed, her face crinkles up in confusion and she looks again. Getting slightly annoyed as she hears Raven cackling away at her in her office, Lexa hates being laughed at. “What the fuck Raven? What am i even looking for?”  
“You are literally staring right at it! Nice face by the way” Raven retorts, still laughing.

Seeing that Lexa is starting to get pissed Raven finally takes pity on her, “Alright, dead-center, just above the door frame. Can you see the screw?”  
At Raven’s description Lexa’s eyes zero in on the small Phillips head screw embedded exactly where Raven had said it would be “Are you Fucking kidding me? That is NOT the camera” Lexa was impressed, she had seen and even used some tiny cameras over the years but this was on a whole other level. Walking back into the room as Raven again turned from her screens to look at her she said “Rae, That is some James Bond shit right there. You are a certifiable genius” It was pretty rare that Lexa would pay someone a compliment so Raven takes the opportunity and preens under the attention.  
“Damn right I am, There’s a reason they kept me around after this shit show” She vaguely waves at her braced leg. Lexa narrows her eyes slightly, between noticing the extra limp in her gait earlier and the comment now she wonders if the injury is worrying her more then normal. Gesturing at the leg Lexa simply says “it’s getting worse”  
Raven regards her for a moment before answering “Yeah, don’t worry though my little hero. Nothing I can’t handle” Lexa frowns at the woman she considers to be the closest thing she might have to a friend, next to Anya her former mentor in the final stages of her training.  
“I wish you would stop calling me that, it’s been almost three years and I would hardly label myself a hero in the story” Raven gives her a cheeky half smile and replies  
“Would you prefer the term ‘Avenging Angel’?”  
“No” Lexa states simply

Raven and Lexa had been in the same bunch of recruits and had grown up living and training together although they had not always gotten along, both of them having very competitive natures and a mile wide stubborn streak. They had always at the very least respected one another and both held a soft spot for the other. So when three years ago Raven had been partnered up with Roan another assassin who was a few years older and more experienced for a hit on multiple targets. Roan, instead of completing the mission had shot her in the back and left her for dead in order to try and escape from the Syndicate. Raven had survived though and was found by Gustus who at the time was Raven’s handler as well as Lexa’s and several others. She was rushed into surgery and upon waking up told Gustus and other high ranking members of the syndicate what had happened. Gustus had then told Lexa who immediately volunteered to take the deserter down.  
It was surprisingly easy to track the bastard down and with in a few days she’d caught up with him and practically tore him apart, possibly the most out of control she’d ever been as she savagely beat him to death.

She had taken what evidence she needed of Roan’s disposal back to the syndicate and had discovered that while she was gone Raven’s injury had left her with permanent nerve damage and she had lost most of the use of her left leg. While this would mean a death sentence for most, the syndicate simply putting down anyone who had lost their usefulness. Gustus, Anya, Lincoln and one other mentor Indra had argued Raven’s case insisting that her mind was always her strongest asset and that she would be more useful off the field then she ever could be on it. They have assassins coming out their ears and were constantly training new ones but a genuinely brilliant mind was harder to come by. Raven slipped into the role of hacker extraordinaire and technology and weapons development easily and spent the last three years proving just how valuable she is despite her physical limitations.

“Fine” Raven broke Lexa out of her wandering thoughts “I won’t call you ‘The Avenging Angel’ although it would make one hell of a superhero name, and bitch I don’t care what you say. You’ll always be my hero” Raven peered up at Lexa through hooded eyes and comically batted her lashes at her. Lexa almost laughed the the other woman’s antics, Almost.

“Anyway, you’re here for a reason” Raven smoothly redirected, either of them being good at dealing with any kind of genuine feeling. “I have everything you need here” she said handing over a large yellow envelope that she fished out of a drawer only seconds before. “And here is your very own screw-cam, there phone in there is setup to receive the signal and has a kill switch to stop the recording if needed” Raven then handed her another slightly smaller envelope which Lexa accepted nodding in understanding of how the system works. Not too different to what they had used for previous jobs when needed, just much smaller and harder to spot.  
“Now you’re booked on to a commercial flight, so our options for weapons are limited. This one will have to be up close and personal if you catch my drift” Raven finishes off with a wink

Lexa thinks back to the file she just read on her target a 36 year old female. Conservative British politician, Married with two children and according to the information given by the client. Prefers the company of women when away from her husband. It all falls into place, why she was chosen for this assignment so soon after completing her last job. What was it Anya called her last year? Lesbian Catnip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my lovely readers so far and all the comments and kudos you have left. I really wasn't expecting such a reaction so early on! its really boosted my confidence and keeps me motivated to keep going!
> 
> thanks to my Tumblr followers as well, if anyone wants to come find me you are more than welcome https://www.tumblr.com/blog/clexaasassinau


	3. Not sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa strongly dislikes china but she has a job to do

 

_Lexa’s lungs were burning, her breaths coming in shallow pants for longer then what would be considered healthy and her head was spinning from the low levels of carbon dioxide narrowing the blood vessels that supply her brain. If she kept this up for much longer she would pass out. but that was assuming her arms and legs didn’t give out from the effort of keeping her head out of the water first, in which case she would drown before she could pass out. Either way she was screwed if this bald headed arsehole didn’t let them out soon._

_Glaring at said bald headed arsehole with eyes that burned from the excessive amounts of chlorine in the water Lexa wondered if she could cause him to spontaneously combust just with the intensity of which she hated him, tapping in to what little reserve she had left she glanced around at the other kids around her all them them looked to be in a similar state to how she felt , maybe if they all focused their hate at the same time they could make him explode and they would be free to swim out of the pool and rest._

 

_Breaking out of her surprisingly satisfying fantasy of Titus popping like a frog in a microwave Lexa realised he was speaking and she tried to clear the ringing in her ears enough to try and focus on what he was saying, maybe he was telling them they could FINALLY get out, unfortunately her brief moment of hope was snatched away by the low drone of Titus’s voice giving one of his lectures._

 

_“You must learn to push past your pain and your exhaustion” He said in a calm, even and cold tone “You must challenge your physical limits. Right now your legs and arms are burning, your eyes are stinging and it hurts to breath. You are entering into a fight or flight response and I promise you now, Flight is not an option”. Titus looked over the dozen children he had ordered into the pool almost three hours earlier, all red faced and rapidly running out of energy. Occasionally a head would slip underwater for a few seconds before re-emerging with coughs and sputters_

_“You will push harder, or you will drown trying, your only task is to stay above water. You will not concern yourself with anyone around you, if your fellow initiates cannot keep themselves afloat then they will sink. And you will let them, if I catch any of you breaking this simple rule you will all stay longer” Ignoring the hateful glares being thrown at him he straightened up and directed his gaze just above the heads of the children he would break in order to rebuild them as warriors._

 

Lexa was roused from her dream with the slight shaking of the plane as it ran in to a small amount of turbulence, Still mostly asleep she let go of the book still resting on her chest and allowed it to drop to her lap, shifting slightly she resettled and fell back asleep.

 

_Blood dripped into her eye and her vision blurred as she swayed on the spot trying to recover from the nasty jab she hadn’t managed to block before it landed just above her right eyebrow, it would be kind of weird place to land a punch if they guy she was matched against wasn’t so much taller and bigger than her. Before she could regain her composure she felt another blow and a distinct crunch in her nose._

_“Fuck” Lexa groaned as she landed on her arse on the sparring mat._

_“Back down a minute, allow her to recover” She heard Titus order in the same low emotionless tone he always spoke with._

 

_Not sure why she was given a reprieve but happy to take advantage of it nonetheless Lexa took a few seconds to just breathe, trying to will the pain in her nose and eyebrow away. Finally opening her eyes she took a moment to take in her surroundings, the eleven other recruits of her age were standing in a circle around her forming a loose fighting ring, her older, larger, more experienced opponent was standing back giving her space as ordered and Titus was pacing around just outside the circle observing. “If you can not defend yourself against someone bigger and stronger than yourself. You are no good to me, Find a way” He said._

 

_With all eyes on her she got to her feet and with blood flowing freely from her broken nose she adopted a defensive stance and waited for the next attack. The older boy took that as his cue and began to circle her, like a shark stalking his next meal. Smug bastard, she thought as he rushed her._

 

_Lexa held her stance as he got closer, keeping eye contact with him as his fist raised and he came within striking distance. With the speed he was moving and the weight advantage he had over her Lexa knew that she didn’t stand a chance to match him head on like this. She waited for him to start his swing and as he planted his weight on to his front foot using his momentum to follow through she dropped to one knee, reaching out and used that momentum to flip over on to the mat. The moment he was on his back she straddled him and started pounding her fists into his face as hard and fast as she could trying to incapacitate him before he had a chance to use his superior strength to throw her off._

 

_By the time he stopped thrashing under her, Lexa’s knuckles were bloody and she was vaguely aware of a a sharp pain running through her left hand. As she pushed off him and stood back up she looked at her hand and noticed her middle knuckle was out of place. Groaning at yet another injury she dropped her hand to her side as Titus started speaking again._

_“Good” he said “If you are overpowered” he addressed the group “then you need to get creative” He shifted his focus to Lexa “Go and get yourself cleaned up, the rest of you. Pair up”_

 

_As the rest of her group started pairing off and finding space on the mats Lexa dragged herself out of the room and headed toward the med-bay imagining all the ways she could potentially put Titus out of her misery for once again singling her out._

 

Lexa Jerks awake, taking a second to adjust to her surroundings she tries to shake the memories off, telling herself it was what she had to do to survive and that it was what had to happen to keep herself alive now. Lexa didn't like to dwell on past events, what's done is done and there is no point wishing things could be different. She checked the time and noted that there were only a couple of hours left before they were scheduled to land so she retrieved her book and spent the rest of the flight trying to ignore the fact that she felt more drained now then when she fell asleep several hours ago and lose herself in its pages.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  


A few days in china, Lexa feels is certainly long enough. It’s not her first time here and she certainly holds no love for the place, in fact she would go so far as to say it was one of her least favorite places in the world to date.

At least the last few days had been busy enough that she didn't have to focus to much on where she was. She had found her target easily enough, considering she was here for political talks and Lexa’s file had included information about her accommodation and work schedule. She had spent the first two days simply observing her routine and took advantage of the time she would be stuck in long meetings on the first day to break into her hotel suite and do a cursory look for the files she needed before she could complete this job.

 

According to the file it should be on a USB stick that she kept on her at all times due to their sensitive nature, but it never hurt to be thorough and to set up Raven’s ironically named “Screw-Cam”. Ironic not because it was disguised as a small screw, but because that's all the camera seems to have caught her target doing so far. It appears as though all the information given to them by the client was accurate especially the targets weakness for female company outside of her marriage bed.

 

It had been a seemingly endless stream of new women each time she entered her hotel room, Blondes, Redheads, Brunettes. So far Lexa hadn’t found that the women she bought back had anything in common other than the fact that they were all very beautiful and looked significantly younger than the politician. A fact that Lexa had every intention on acting on tonight, All going well she would be able to bait the other woman into inviting her back to her room and secure the information she needed before completing the assignment and heading back home on the next available flight. The footage of the target with her rotating door of lovers should be enough to satisfy the discrediting aspect of the brief, Not that after tonight the woman would be around for the discrediting and humiliation it would bring with it, Lexa supposed that was a small mercy. She would just have to be careful to shut the camera down before she enters the room so her face wasn’t caught on film as well.

 

Lexa tailed her target to a small bar a few blocks from the hotel, careful not to draw her attention to early she stayed outside and hidden and waited for her target to have a couple of drinks. Just enough for the woman to unwind a little and be ready to start looking for her next conquest. Lexa had prepared for the task of attracting the other woman to her, not wanting to approach her and risk any possibility of suspicion. She wore a simple but enticing little black dress, backless and low cut, with a split down one side to show off one long leg. Her hair she kept down and allowed it’s natural curl to frame her face and bounce around her shoulders, if that didn’t demand attention from the other woman then nothing would and Anya’s insistence of her being “every lesbians wet dream” was clearly misguided.

 

She entered about and hour after her target, making her way slowly to the bar she made a show of looking around to take in the surroundings she had already familiarised herself with, deliberately not looking to where she could already feel eyes burning into her. Lexa walked straight to the bar and sat herself in the direct line of vision of the woman she knew she had already begun to reel in. Still careful not to look directly at her, Lexa ordered a drink when the bartender approached her, Gin and Tonic, easy on the Gin. It was only when she had her drink sitting in front of her and had taken her first sip that she allowed her eyes to land on the woman whose eyes had not left her since she walked in.

 

Managing to look surprised that she was being watched Lexa took a moment to take the woman in and gave her a shy smile before forcing her glance back down to her drink, counting to ten she looked back up and forced a slight blush to reach her cheeks before offering another smile, slightly more open than the last and thought to herself _All too easy_ as the woman stood and made her approach.

 

Lexa’s eyes tracked the other woman as she made her way with purpose toward her, she was graceful and confident and although obviously older than Lexa she was still very attractive.

“Hello” She said as she reached the stool next Lexa’s “May I join you?”

Lexa sat silently for just a few seconds, making sure to feign surprise over being approached at a bar so quickly and just as the other woman’s face began to fall she blinked and couple of times before nodding and replying “Of course”. Gesturing to the stool she stood next to Lexa said “Please”.

 

She waited for the woman to sit and offered her hand, a shy blush creeping back on to her cheeks “I’m Alexia”

The woman took her hand in a soft but sure grip and replied in a thick but refined English accent “Margaret, but please call me Maggie”

Lexa’s smile grew and she kept her hand in Maggie’s longer than politeness allowed. “I am very pleased to meet you Maggie”.

Margaret gently pulled her hand back and gestured to the bartender for a refill, her own smile growing to brighten her whole face, making her look even more attractive and Lexa noted to herself that seducing the other woman wouldn't exactly be a burden.

 

The two women talked over a few drinks that Margaret insisted paying for, Lexa was sure to sip at them slowly as her tolerance to alcohol was low and she explained as much to Maggie when she questioned her on it.

“Oh I don’t really drink much, actually I am a total lightweight but work was rough the last few days and I just needed to get out of the hotel y’know?”

Maggie nodded, her ever present smile still beaming from her as she asked “Oh? What do you do for work?” Lexa’s reply was immediate, well practiced in her cover story.

 

“I’m a corporate lawyer, here representing a client looking to expand into the Asian market. It’s been a rough few days of negotiating”

Margaret’s eyebrows raised in surprise “Well I’m impressed, you look young to be a corporate shark”. Lexa grinned and lowered her voice

“I’m very good at what I do” holding Margaret's gaze for a moment she licked her lips and flicked her eyes down to the other woman’s lips, allowing no room to misinterpret that she was no longer referring to her work.

 

Maggie gulped, her eyes following Lexa’s lead dropping to her lips before locking their gazes again, slowly she leaned forward and Lexa could feel hot breath on her ear as she whispered “Do you want to get out here?”

 _Touchdown_ Lexa thought

“Yes” She replied “I would like that very much”.

They stood together and Lexa allowed Maggie to guide her out of the bar with a hand resting on her lower back.

 

The walk to the hotel was quick and mostly silent with coy looks and blushing smiles exchanged between them. As they approached Margaret's room Lexa discreetly reached into her purse quickly finding and hitting the kill switch to the camera on the side of the phone Raven had given her to control it remotely.

 

Maggie opened the door to her suite and took Lexa’s hand to gently pull her inside and as the door swung shut behind her Lexa found herself pushed into it with Maggies lips on hers. She responded to the other woman, letting out a small moan as she ran her hands up Maggie’s back before tangling them in her hair to hold her in place as Maggie continued the assault on her mouth. Lexa felt Maggie’s tongue run along her bottom lip, seeking entrance and she opened up to allow the tongue to probe inside her mouth for just a few seconds before pulling away.

 

Maggie looked at her with confusion etched across her face, Lexa forced another blush and looked at her feet “umm, maybe we could have a drink?” She looked back up to Maggie’s face, playing shy “Talk a little more. Just slow it down a bit?” The confusion fled from Maggies face to be replaced by a tender smile. She reached a hand up to Lexa’s face and stroked her cheek.

“Of course, why don’t you take a seat” she gesture’s toward the couch and steps back a little, letting her hand drop and says “I will be right back”

Maggie moved toward the kitchen, dropping her purse on to the dining table on the way. Lexa waited until she heard her moving around the kitchen before moving to the purse and searching through it for the USB, not surprised when she didn’t find it Lexa figured it must actually be physically on her somewhere.

 

She quickly moved over to the couch and shuffled around to get comfortable wanting to look more relaxed for when Maggie came back. It was only a few seconds later that she did carrying two glasses of wine. Lexa maintained eye contact as she crossed the room and took the glass offered to her, taking a small sip and as Maggie settled in beside her they both put their glasses on the small coffee table by the couch and Lexa leaned back in to capture Maggie’s lips. Tentative at first Lexa brushed their lips together, the other woman allowing her to take the lead and set the pace. Slowly she began to work her up, deepening the kiss and letting her hands wander over Maggie’s thighs and up her sides. She rested her hands on Maggie’s shoulder and moved closer as she changed the angle of the kiss.

 

Feeling Maggie start to respond to her, she used the other woman’s distraction to start searching for the USB stick, running her hands everywhere she could think that it might be. Reaching in to the inside breast pocket of Maggie’s jacket she felt it, _Bingo!_

 

Palming her prize Lexa again ran her hands up toward Maggie’s shoulders, brushing lightly over the woman’s breasts and pushed the jacket off. Maggie let out a quiet moan at her actions and Lexa took the opportunity to act spooked again, pulling back with a look of mild shock she regarded the woman for a moment until Maggie caught on to what happened.

 

“I’m so sorry” Lexa spoke softly “I.. I’m not usually this forward” She glanced down once more to the other woman’s lips and took her own bottom lip between her teeth.

 

Maggie rested one hand on Lexa’s thigh and said “It’s ok, you have nothing to apologise for”

Lexa nodded and gulped fidgeting slightly as she slid back on the couch a little and said “I might just, um” stuttering and looking around clearly agitated she stood “I’ll be right back, I just need a minute” Excusing herself to the bathroom, Lexa locked the door behind her and quickly fished out a portable USB reader from her purse and sent a text off to Raven to verify it was the files they needed.

Less than a minute later Lexa’s phone screen glowed with confirmation, she had what she was here for. Dropping everything back in to her bag she exited the bathroom and dropped her purse on the table next to Maggie’s and strutted with confidence back to the couch where Maggie was watching her in stunned silence clearly picking up her change of demeanor.

“Your right” Lexa said as she dropped on to Maggie’s lap, straddling her she lent in “I’m not sorry” she whispered against the woman’s mouth before kissing her.

It was different to the other kisses they had shared throughout the evening, hurried and full of want. Lexa ground down in to Maggie’s lap and moaned when she felt the woman grab her arse. She took her bottom lip between her teeth and lightly nipped at it feeling Maggie's moan rattle around her chest in reply. Lexa trailed her hands up and down the other woman’s body while continuing the heated kiss before finally cupping her face. They broke the apart, both panting to get some much needed oxygen into their systems and as Maggie leaned back in to recapture Lexa’s kiss swollen lips she twisted the woman’s head, still cupped in her hands.

 

Feeling her neck break instantly Lexa let go of her grip on Margret’s head and let the woman’s now lifeless body slump back into the couch. She reached out one hand and closed the other woman’s eyes before standing up from her lap and quickly collected her purse from the table. She took a few minutes to dump her wine glass and wipe down any surfaces she had touched then retrieved the camera from where she had placed it just a few days ago. With her job done she let herself quietly out the door, not sparing a glance for what she left behind and as discreetly as possible she left the hotel shooting a text through to Gustus to let him know she was ready for extraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note to thank you all for reading. all the support has been overwhelming and has really inspired me to power through and keep writing despite now working two jobs and being tired ALL the time


	4. To say Clarke was beginning to panic was an understatement.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke is begging to figure out that these dreams and weird occurrences might not be as stress induced as she first thought

It’s a beautiful, clear night, Clarke took a deep breath feeling calm and at ease as she absorbed the view of city lights out the window of a beautiful penthouse suite that she didn’t really remember booking, or checking in to, but seemed to be occupying nonetheless. Her brow furrowed in confusion she takes a harder look at those city lights twinkling below her and came to the realisation that his isn’t her city.

_ What the hell?  _ She thought, Clarke looked harder trying to figure out where she was, her eyes darted from building to building before focusing in on a close by billboard.  _ Is that Chinese? Am I in China? How the fuck am I in China? _

Before she could really think about how she came to be in a foreign country without remembering a flight or anything really that would explain what was happening, there was a thud behind her and she spun around to see where the noise had come from but it felt wrong, like she wasn’t moving at all. Instead the room seemed to tilt and her vision blurred making her feel dizzy.

When the world came back in to focus she realised that two women had stumbled in to her room by mistake, one had the other pushed against the door and they seemed far too wrapped up in each other to notice their mistake. Clarke tried to clear her throat to subtly alert the women that they were not in fact alone but no noise came out. She tried again and again nothing. Taking a deep breath to speak Clarke stopped cold as the women separated and she got a brief glimpse of hauntingly familiar green eyes.

The world blurred out for a second time and her voice caught in her throat as the room seemed to tilt again.  _ Gah this shit is making me want to puke  _ She thought. 

Once her head stopped spinning Clarke realised that the women had moved from out of the doorway, she slowly looked around the room not wanting the blurry, dizzy making hell to start up again and she saw the woman with the green eyes, her back turned to her and a full head of shiny brown curls searching through a purse quickly before moving over to a couch and making herself comfortable, Clarke tried to move to get a look at the woman’s face but the moment she tried to take a step the world was spinning and her head felt like it wanted to split in half.

_ Fuuuck _ Was the only thought echoing through her head as it started to clear, she slowly opened her eyes, not remembering having closed them to see that the other woman had returned and the two of them were making out again  _ Jesus Christ, how have they not realised I’m here yet?  _ She opened her mouth to announce her presence once and for all but just like clearing her throat, no sound came, she tried again and again but still no words would form  _ Okay, what the fuck is going on? _

To say Clarke was beginning to panic was an understatement, She was in a room she had never seen before, in a city she had never been to with two women she had never met who apparently couldn't see her and she couldn’t speak or make any noise for that matter, or move without feeling like the world was turning itself inside out.  _ Shit.. Am I dead?  _ She immediately rolled her eyes at herself  _ No, of course I’m not dead, that was stupid Clarke.  _ Slowly Clarke tried to move her head, if she couldn’t move from her spot she could at least look around a bit and not stare like a creep at the women still kissing in front of her. 

It seemed like only a few seconds had passed before she realised that the brunette had left and the other woman was alone, fidgeting and seemingly waiting for her companion to come back. Clarke took the opportunity to try and study the woman, but every time she tried to concentrate on any detail it felt like she instantly forgot what she was looking at, it was discombobulating. Before she knew it the woman with the startling and all too familiar green eyes, the only detail she could seem to focus on, was striding back to the couch and had planted herself firmly on the other woman’s lap. Clarke again tried to look away but found that no matter how much she wanted to she just couldn’t, a sense of dread started to fill her and her heart rate kicked up a notch as the women pulled apart. Green eyes hardened and Clarke found herself silently screaming as a sickening crack echoed through the room, then everything else faded as her eyes locked on the now lifeless body on the couch. She was vaguely aware of movement as the other woman shuffled around the room but Clarke’s eyes stayed firmly locked in place. 

She couldn’t breath, couldn’t move, couldn’t tear her gaze away. She was frozen. She heard the door open and the room blurred and spun and her eyes locked on to green once more just before the door clicked closed again, there was nothing in them, no remorse, no fear, no emotion at all. Just cold hard green.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Clarke jerked awake to the sound of her alarm blasting next to her head, disoriented and feeling nauseous from the extreme violence she had just witnessed,  _ Dreamed?  _ She poked at her phone to silence the alarm before cupping her hands over her head and letting out a quiet sob  _ That was all too real to have just been a dream  _ Clarke couldn’t help but think. With her eyes closed she could see perfectly the woman on the couch, her head at an awkward angel and the blank stare before the brunette forced dead eyes closed to hide the lifeless stare.

She snapped her eyes back open and tried to focus on anything else, unable to cope with the image that seemed to now be burnt into her brain. Throwing back the covers and sliding out of bed Clarke moved around her room and gathered up clothes for the day and lay them out on the unmade bed before heading toward the bathroom to shower, maybe if she cranked the hot water all the way up she could burn the chilling image from her mind and force the dream away to focus on the massive workload she has scheduled for the day.

Standing under the near scalding stream of water after scrubbing her skin almost raw was certainly distracting her from the nightmare, which is exactly what Clarke had decided it was. Just a vivid nightmare, because what else could it possibly be.

Turning off the faucet and stepping out of the shower stall on to a soft, fluffy bath mat, Clarke grabbed her equally as fluffy towel and dried off before wandering back to her room and dressing, deliberately focusing on each of the tasks of her morning routine to clear the lingering post dream fog. 

Once she was dressed, fed and caffeinated Clarke found herself actively trying to avoid any eye contact of other passengers on one of the trollies of the San Diego metro transit system  that would take her to her parents house for fear of locking on to the cold green eyes that she still felt were haunting her. Having agreed to meet them before work to go over a few things before catching a ride with them to the research facility they all not only worked at but that her parents had founded and owned. 

Abigail and Jake Griffin were both brilliant and motivated medical researchers, passionate about not only helping people through their research but about the science itself. Having been raised by two such influential people Clarke had found herself drawn to the same field and the “Griffin Medical Research Corporation” now had three Griffins trying to crack what her parents had dubbed one of the most important medical breakthroughs in modern medicine.

Clarke entered through the imposing iron gates that lead up a long straight driveway toward what she considered to be a completely over the top and unnecessary fountain standing proudly in front of the even more imposing brick home that she had grown up in, a monstrous mcmansion she had once called it. But what else would you expect from two of the most influential people in the medical research and pharmaceutical world. Reaching the large double doors Clarke rang the bell and was alarmed when one of the door swung open immediately to reveal her mother.

“You’re late” Abby said with a stern and disgruntled scowl, Clarke rolled her eyes and checked her watch

“By less than 4 minutes Mom” It was typical of her mother really, if you weren't 15 minutes early then by her standards you are late. 

 

Abigail Griffin ushered her daughter inside and led the way through a grand, marble floored entryway into a sunroom with floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the bay, where her father sat reading the paper in an overstuffed armchair while sipping at his morning coffee, both of which he discarded to stand up and pull her into a warm hug.

“Good morning, oh daughter of mine” He greeted, pulling back from the embrace Clarke beamed at her father.

“Good morning dad, anything interesting happening in the world?” she asked directing her gaze to the abandoned newspaper. Jake flopped back into his chair and retrieved his half drunk coffee before shaking his head and replying “Nothing spectacular no, I was hoping for alien invasion, but for now at least it seems as though we are still alone in the universe” Clarke shook her head and chuckled at her father’s antics, he was definitely the more insouciant of her parents. Always smiling and finding the joy in things, where her mother was more serious and pragmatic, they balanced each other well Abby managing to keep Jake grounded and focused when he needed to be and Jake always managing to make her smile and remember to have fun occasionally.

Clarke settled in to one of the other chairs that surrounded a large coffee table and helped herself to a cup of coffee from the fully loaded serving tray that sat in the center of the table as her mother did the same and the three sat in companionable silence while they sipped at their beverage’s. After a few minutes Clarke noticed her parents throwing looks at each other as if silently arguing who would bring up whatever it is they had called her here to talk about.

“Okay you two, clearly there is something you want to talk to me about so one of you may as well start” She glanced back and forth between them before her mother finally blurted out, in a very un-Abby Griffin like manner.

“You know Alli-corp?”

“You mean the second biggest medical research corporation in the United states?” Clarke replied mockingly

“Yes Clarke and there is no need for sarcasm” her mother admonished 

“What about Alli-corp mom?” Clarke prodded

There was a moment of silence as Clarke again watched her parents communicate through a few pointed looks and eyebrow raises.

“They have made an offer on the radiation metaboliser” Jake replied, taking over from his wife

Clarke took a minute to absorb what her father had said before replying with 

“What? How do they even know about it? It’s not exactly public knowledge”

“Allie has always known more than she is supposed to” Jake said with a solemn look.

The initial surprise of the announcement began to wear off and Clarke found herself become angry.  

“Well she can’t have it!” she spat “we are so close to cracking this.” and they were, they had worked tirelessly for years on this serum and were in the middle of a major breakthrough that once completed would be there greatest achievement to date.  _ No way  _ Thought Clarke  _ There is no way that twig bitch is getting her hands on our work _

Clarke shook her head “Allie is basically a psychotic criminal hiding behind major Pharma and bucket loads of cash.” Getting more and more worked up Clarke continued  “That unethical troll sells what should be major medical breakthroughs to scum who want to weaponize what should be helping people! I don't want her grubby hands anywhere near this” Clarke finished with a huff,  _ That awful woman can have this over my cold dead body. _

That had been a mistake, the moment her thought process rested on cold dead body her mind flashed back to the sickening sound of a neck breaking and Clarke had to take a deep breath to try and center herself and shake the image off. Luckily her parents attributed the suddenly nauseated look on her face to the topic at hand.

“Then we all agree” Said Jake “I’ll contact her with our decision”

Clarke let out a sigh of relief, happy her parents were just as if not more protective of the research they had all spent years developing in to a working (well almost working) serum and nodded her assent. 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Clarke let out a long groan as she lowered herself carefully to the couch trying not to spill her dinner or wine, the rocky start to the morning seemed to set the tone for the rest of the day and it felt as though she had been dealing with one disaster after another so the relief she felt flooding her body at it finally being over was incredible. Lifting her legs up to rest them on the coffee table that sat just in front of the couch, she slumped back making herself comfortable and grabbed the remote to flick on the TV so she would have some background noise to drown out thoughts of the day. Every minute she hadn’t spent actively engaged in work was spent reliving the nightmare from this morning, she just hadn’t managed to shake it off and was now feeling exhausted and emotionally drained.

Flipping through the channels trying to find something worth watching she catches a glance of a familiar face and stops, realising she’s stopped on the news channel Clarke’s face twisted in to the epitome of confusion trying to place how she knew the woman on the screen.

_ British Politician Margaret Chapel was found dead in her penthouse suite in China just a few hours ago by colleagues who were concerned when she had missed an important meeting after embarrassing footage of her cheating on her husband with multiple female partners was leaked online. The police have released a statement stating that they are treating the death as suspicious but have not released the cause of death they did however state that there was no sign that her room had been broken into and no sign of struggle… _

Clarke shut the TV off once it clicked in her head, China, affairs with women, Suspicious death. It wasn’t just a dream. 

What she had seen this morning was real, she had somehow managed to witness the murder of a British MP while asleep on the other side of the planet. To say Clarke was beginning to panic was an understatement.


	5. Of foul moods and fucking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allie has a tantrum  
> Clarke's sleep deprived and confused  
> Lexa's sleep deprived and cranky but then gets some unexpected time off and Raven and Anya have been keeping a secret

“Fucking Griffins!” Allie threw the phone she was holding, having just hung up with Jake Griffin himself, against the wall of her corner office and watched with only mild satisfaction as it smashed. Still seething she reached over to her desk and scooped up the first thing her hand touched and threw it in the same direction, a decorative spherical glass paperweight and watched as it too smashed against the wall, thousands of tiny bits of glass raining down on to the floor. 

 

Stomping out of her office, high heels crunching over the broken glass Allie scowled at her assistant, whose desk was just outside her door and barked orders over her shoulder, not bothering to slow down. “Get me a new phone and call the damn janitor up here to clean up that mess, I’ll be downstairs in the lab beating a couple of eggheads together”  

 

Allie seethed the entire ride down to the second floor where the labs were located and leveled anyone who tried to enter the elevator on its many stops with a withering glare that would send them scurrying away in fear. Pushing her way through the doors of the nanotechnology lab with a loud bang as the door bounced off the wall she effectively had the attention of everyone unlucky enough to be inside. 

 

“Where is Doctor Drexler” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand and Christine Drexler stepped out from a small office located in the back of the lab and regarded the hot tempered woman “Right here Miss Malangone, what can I do for you?”

“What can you do for me?” she repeated “what you can do for me doctor” she said, voice rising several octaves as she spoke “Is fix this damn Nanobot technology of yours so it doesn’t kill the subjects before we can make a goddamn profit on it!” Allie paced around the lab “what kind of useless so called genius are you if the very thing we’re trying to flog off to make people stronger and smarter bloody well kills them? I can’t sell that Drexler and we are running out of time.. No” she amended “You are running out of time” By the time the woman had ended her rant she had paced around the entire lab and had ended up face to face with the other woman, leveling her with a glare that would have had most literally shaking in their boots, Allie’s temper tantrums were legendary.

 

Dr Drexler however had been dealing with the woman long enough to know, that although she shouldn't be underestimated and that she was an unscrupulous borderline psychopath who could be downright dangerous and at times unpredictable she would never do something to risk the billions of dollars this project was worth, because if there was anything in the world that Allie actually cared about, it was making money. “Miss Malangone” she spoke in a calm and condescending tone “I have already told you that the key to neutralizing the effect of the radiation caused by the nanotechnology” annunciating nanotechnology as if speaking to a child “Is the radiation metabolizer serum the Griffin’s are working on, which my inside source assures me is in the final stages of development.” She leveled Allie with a glare of her own.

 

Seething at the insubordination shown by Dr Drexler Allie felt the rage that had been simmering since the phone call with Jake Griffin reach it apex although to look at her you would have thought she were suddenly overtaken with a wave of calm. “The Griffin’s refuse to give us access to their research, I made a more than generous offer and yet the holier than thou, fucks will not ‘ _ compromise all their hard work with someone who might tanish the intent of the serum _ ’” Allie regarded the defiant doctor her composed front still intact “If its the serum you need, I will get it.” Allie spun on her heel and started toward the lab doors

“How do you propose to get the serum if they will not cooperate?” The doctor enquied quietly, unnerved by the dramatic flip in the other woman’s deposition. Allie stopped and looked back over her shoulder “If the Griffins won’t share there are other ways of obtaining it and anything else I want from from those irritating do gooders, They have been a thorn in my side long enough” Allie resumed her trek toward the exit before stopping once more “Oh and Doctor? If you speak to me like that again, I might just begin to consider you a thorn in my side as well”

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
  
  


Clarke had not slept all night switching between trying to figure out how she could have possibly witnessed something, that she could not possibly have witnessed to denile, and back again. She tracked down and devoured every article and news clip on the internet about the Margaret Chapel murder and even watched the leaked footage of the women she had been taking back to her room over the couple of days leading up to it, pausing on each new face to try and figure out if it was the owner of those cold, emotionless green eyes. 

She Researched things she never thought she would ever even think about such as, Astral projection, visions through dreams, premonitions, psychic connections. She even downloaded and read a book called ‘The science of spirituality’ in order to try and wrap her scientific mind around something extremely unscientific all which just led to more questions and confusion.

 

Somewhere around 4am Clarke had given up and thrown her phone to the side, determined to get at least a couple of hours sleep before she had to be back at work but that too was fruitless her brain refusing to switch off. So when she rolled out of bed about 3 seconds before her alarm went off at 6am, she was tired, drained, confused and pissed off. She switched off the alarm and bee lined to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, it was going to be a long day. 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Lexa pulled the covers up over head to block out the morning rays of sun, she would normally be up and out on her morning run but after a sleepless eleven and half hour flight back from China and the early meeting her handler Gustus had scheduled for debriefing she decided to forgo her usual morning routine in favour of getting at least some sleep, the damn sun however seemed intent on ruining that plan. She rubbed at her eyes, red and raw from the shitty recycled air on the plane and lack of sleep and shoved the blankets off her body to roll out of bed, groaning at the unfairness of it all. Before pulling some clothes on and heading out to closest place that served coffee, Lincoln could shove his meal plan and coffee ban up his ass today.

 

Her fowl mood continued even after two large cups of black coffee and an even larger plate of crispy bacon and eggs, not really sure why she was in such a terrible mood considering she had regularly gone much longer without sleep but also not caring enough to give it much thought beyond that. Scowl firmly in place she swung the door to Gustus office open without knocking and slumped in to the chair closest to the door, shooting Gustus a glare when he mentioned her lack of manners this morning. They worked their way through their debriefing with Lexa having to describe in more detail than she thought necessary all the steps she took to complete the assigned job, seriously; required information obtained, check. Target humiliated, Check. Target eliminated, check. What was the point on knowing every little thing she did to get the mission objectives done.

 

Just as they were wrapping up, Gustus seemingly satisfied the phone oh his desk rang and Lexa’s eyes disappeared into the back of her head with the force of her eye roll at having to stay longer. After a muffled conversation Lexa had no desire to eavesdrop on Gustus ended the call with several, yes of course, sir’s and turned his attention back to the clearly disgruntled assassin sitting opposite him. “Well” he said loudly gaining her wondering attention “It seems as though Director Jaha is impressed at how fast and smoothly you handled this assignment and has strongly suggested I give you the week off as a reward” at Lexa’s bemused expression Gustus continued “He has also expedited the payment process and your cut of the job has been deposited” Lexa just continued to sit in silence, her mouth hanging open in shock, which Gustus apparently found amusing since he started actually laughing, had Lexa actually ever heard Gustus laugh? She couldn't recall.

“Jesus Lexa, stop looking so stunned and get out of here. Go have some fun or something”

Lexa again just blinked at him, before standing up and leaving in silence.

 

Unsure of what the hell she was supposed to do with ‘time off’ does the Syndicate normally give their assets vacations? Lexa headed toward Ravens office, if anyone could help her with what the hell she was supposed to do with this unexpected to turn of events, it would be her exuberant friend. Plus she would be able to give her feedback about her new camera.

 

“Oh holy fuck!” Lexa exclaimed as she slammed the door to Raven’s office closed after having just swung it open, without knocking. “Nope, nope nope.” She muttered as she hightailed it back the way she came. She heard the door to Raven’s office open and close again as she scrubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands trying to erase the the image of what she had just witnessed, she felt a hand on her arm and only realised she was still repeating the word nope, when Anya spun her around and whispered “Shut up, come with me.”

 

Lexa found herself being led back to Raven’s office by an incredibly annoyed looking Anya, who ungracefully shoved her through the door in front of herself and quickly shut it behind them. Lexa’s eyes fell on Raven whose shirt was back on, although still undone, showing off tanned abs and a black lace bra while still trying to wrestle her pants back up her legs “For Christ sake” Lexa grumbled as she averted her eyes to the ceiling, not really wanting that much of an eyeful from her friend she vaguely head Raven grumble something back along the lines of “Bitch please, you love it”. Ignoring the comment she instead shifted her focus to Anya who was now standing beside her, eyeing her cautiously, Lexa could practically feel the discomfort and panic rolling off the older woman and drew a breath to reassure her only to get cut short by Anya launching in to a full on verbal offensive “I swear to all that is unholy, if you say any thing, do anything I will..”

 

“What?” Lexa interrupted, she didn’t take well to threats, even threats from someone she liked and respected as much as she did her former mentor “I dare you to finish that sentence Ahn, I” Both women who had been steadily getting closer and closer, ready to face off were interrupted by the sound of Raven’s Laughter. The two assassins turned to look at the other women, surprised by her reaction. Which only made Raven laugh harder.

“Oh man, look at you two! With that display of testosterone I’d swear you were both dudes!” she let out between fits of laughter. Lexa raised her eyebrow and glanced back to Anya who seemed to have calmed down slightly and the two women waited for Raven to stop laughing long enough to speak again.

 

“Relax Anya” she finally said “She’s not going to say anything” Raven looked between the two woman in front of her before her face dropped, just a little and she added, looking directly at Lexa “right?”

 

Lexa sighed and shook her head as she said “Of course not, I actually like you two idiots. I would much prefer to keep you breathing, I do have a question though” She looked between the two women, making sure she had their full attention and continued when Raven raised her eyebrows in question “Are you fucking suicidal?! What force of stupidity possessed you to think that fooling around here of all places was a good idea?” stopping momentarily to draw breath Lexa continued “Do you not remember the multiple incidents of assets being caught fraternising? Did you conveniently forget what they do to people who break that rule?”

 

Both women at least had the sense to look sheepish at Lexa’s tirade and the three sat quietly for a moment, allowing the words to sit between them when Anya started nodding “You’re right” She admitted quietly “It was stupid and completely reckless” she paused again and looked at Raven. Her face softening ever so slightly as she continued “She turns me in to an idiot”

Lexa rolled her eyes at as Raven tried to hide her blush under a scowl before she too rolled her eyes and said  “Whatever you can’t blame her, I’m fucking hot. And a genius.. And hilarious..”   
“And oh so humble” Anya interrupts and the two start bickering with a bewildered Lexa watching on, she can’t say she was surprised that two women had struck up a romance, she did after all have eyes and had picked on the tension between the two on more than one occasion, she just worried that her two friends would be discovered and killed for the infraction if they weren't  more careful.

 

Raven and Anya stop mid squabble, seeming to remember that Lexa was still there ‘What are you doing here anyway?” Asks Anya. Lexa, remembering why she came down here in the first place launched into an explanation of Gustus’s call with the director and her unanticipated down time.

“That’s weird, I’ve never heard of him giving vacation time” Anya said once Lexa had finished talking, who only nodded as way of reply.

“Typical, though” Raven added “give time off to the one person who wouldn’t know how to relax if she were in a room full of puppies at a spa in the rainforest with Enya playing in the background” Lexa had the good sense to look mildly offended at that.

“I know how to relax” she defended “I just don’t like to” she muttered under her breath

Raven rolled her eyes, ignoring Lexa’s admission “you guys know what this means though right?” Raven’s shit eating grin lit her entire face as she continued “Paaaaaarty time! We are going out to celebrate Lexa’s rock stardom, her killer prowess, her mastery of..”

“Raven!” Lexa interrupts, Not wanting to know what else she could come up with “No we are not” she said with finality, her arms coming together to cross over her chest, there was no way she was letting Raven drag her out, not after last time, Nope! Not happening

“Yes!” Anya surprises both of them “Yes we are”

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The heavy bass of dance music pounded through her bones and the air felt heavy and entirely to warm as Lexa shuffled the ridiculous fruity drink from one hand to the other while she shucked her jacket off, leaving her in only a fitting black tank and dark skinny jeans and tossed it over the back of a chair at the small table Raven had claimed for them about half way between the bar and dance floor. She took a sip of the ‘virgin cocktail’ Anya had ordered her and screwed her nose up at the woman before putting it down on the table.  

“Don’t be so fucking boring” Anya called over the music “I mean if you won't have a real drink with me you can least drink something that makes it looks like you don't have a stick wedged firmly up your ass” Raven barked out a laugh and leaned closer to Anya, shooting Lexa a teasing half smile “I’m not sure there is a force on this planet, that can hide that ass stick Ahn, It’s a big one” Lexa Narrows her eyes at Raven in warning as she sits down but it’s Anya who continues “You might be right there Rae, but for everyone’s sake we need to try”

Lexa shoots Anya a warning look as well before directing a “fuck you both” at her two companions.

 

The night followed a similar vein, the three women teasing each other, occasionally talking about work and swapping war stories (as much as they dared in public) and people watching before Anya and Raven again ganged up on Lexa. This time trying to convince her to approach one of the many gorgeous women who had been clearly checking her out, trying to catch her eye all night. Lexa so far had been standing firm in the No camp.                                                                                                                                                 

“Unwind a little” Anya said “It will do you good to screw someone you didn’t have to kill straight after” The sip of beer Raven had just taken got sprayed over the table as she laughed. Lexa however was not amused “I didn’t screw her” She replied quietly.  Anya and Raven both looked at her with disbelief, clearly doubting her word “I got what I needed before it got that far” she elaborated. Anya shrugged “All the more reason, to go get your freak on”

 

“Fuck it” Lexa said, it had been forever since she had attended to her physical needs beyond the basics of eating, sleeping and working out.  “Why not, I’m on vacation right?” She looked around and with Raven and Anya being no help at all she zeroed in on a pretty woman with auburn hair and stormy grey eyes, shooting her glances every few minutes and smiling brightly when she noticed Lexa finally looking back. 

 

Lexa made her move and with in half an hour she found herself being led into the other woman’s apartment, lips locked and clothes steadily hitting the floor, leaving a path to the bedroom. The rest of the night was lost in skin, sweat and sex and just as dawn broke Lexa peeled herself away quietly from the sleeping woman beside her, collecting up her clothes and throwing them on, on the way to the door. She let herself out of the small apartment and headed off in the direction of home feeling no guilt or shame for sneaking out on her one night stand, just a little lighter then she had in a while.


	6. ... And so it begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke is clumsy, Lexa is worried and Allie makes a move

_ Lexa found herself standing in some kind of laboratory her sharp eyes darted around taking everything in, trying to get a feel for her surroundings from the clean shiny white floors, and long work benches filled with beakers, slides and more state of the art scientific equipment then she’d ever seen. Complete with gas lines for what she assumed were for Bunsen burners stretching across the room, to the large viewing windows that made up two of the rooms four walls. She spotted two exits on either side of the long lab with a decontamination shower and first aid station next to one then her eye is drawn to the furthest corner of the lab where the beautiful blonde woman she knows only through her dreams is focused on her work, wearing a tight fitting white blouse and black pants under a long white lab coat and sporting safety goggles with her hair tied back into a ponytail looking like the epitome of sexy nerd.  _

_ A sense of peace enveloped Lexa as she watched the blonde fiddle with beaker after beaker of different clear and coloured fluids, occasionally mixing them and making slides to check results under a microscope and record the results on a small digital tablet sitting to one side of the microscope she kept coming back to, slide after slide was made and checked and recorded and she lost all track of time, perfectly content to watch the beautiful woman work with her face crinkled in concentration. Every so often the blonde would stop mid motion and  look around her expectantly, as if she were waiting for someone or expected someone to be in the lab with her. Lexa wondered briefly if the other woman could sense her watching. _

 

_ She watched as the woman shuffled a few of the beakers around the bench and made yet another concoction, this time though as she was transferring some of the mix to a slide a phone dinged and the woman reached into one of the pockets on the lab coat and pulled out a phone, she picked up her finished slide with her free hand and turned toward the microscope while focused on the phone in her other hand. Blindly reaching out was a mistake and Lexa tried and failed to call out as she saw the blondes had move off course and knock one of the beakers over, the contents spilling on the the bench and dripping down onto the floor. The blonde woman startled by the noise of the beaker tipping jumped slightly and managed to knock over a second container with slightly more velocity than the first, she watched as the contents spilled out and mixed with the first, the glass beaker rolling off the bench and smashing at the woman's feet. _

_ Lexa watched slightly amused as the young scientist scrambled to try and clean up the mess, cursing under her breath. Then all sense of amusement and the peace she had been feeling as she watched the woman work transformed into an almost gut wrenching panic as the young woman’s eyes bulged out of her head in surprise and fear once she noticed that the spilled liquids combined had turned corrosive and had began to eat through the bench, floor and the blondes shoes since she was currently standing in a puddle of it.  _

_ Everything happened quickly after that, she watched as the woman dropped everything and bolted toward the decontamination shower that Lexa had spotted earlier her shoes and the bottoms of her pants bubbling and steaming. She watched as the blonde hit the big red button marked “Decontamination” and was surprised when along with the shower activating the alarm and sprinkler system in the lab activated as well saturating everything and washing away the chemicals to the sound of klaxons. She watched as the woman kicked her shoes off and shuffled out of her steaming pants, carefully avoiding coming into direct contact with anything that had been contaminated while maneuvering herself under the direct stream of the shower, instantly becoming soaked. She watched as the blonde heaved a sigh of relief once she checked herself over and discovered none of the liquid had breached through her clothes on to her skin, becoming preoccupied with long smooth legs for just a moment or two more than decency would allow and she watched as the woman reached for the lab coat and began to struggle out of the now sodden garment, Lexa’s eyes wandering over the now see through white blouse before moving back up to the woman’s face and she watched as she froze mid movement and directed piercing blue eyes straight into her own green. _

 

Lexa jolted awake the second their eyes met, shooting out of her bed and to her feet she looked around her own bedroom in confusion before her head cleared and she realised what had happened. Shaking her head in disbelief she tried to even out her breathing and slow her heart rate, which turned out to be a lost cause when she glanced over at the clock and realised she had overslept and only had about half an hour to get to work, she let out a string of colourful curses as she quickly set about getting herself ready, she did not want to be late to her first day back. Lexa was quickly becoming annoyed at the increased frequency and apparent length of these vivid dreams that had been haunting her since she was a child. But what annoyed her even more was that she was actually concerned for the safety of someone she didn’t even really believe existed. In fact she was annoyed that she was she feeling anything at all.  She was someone who could snap the neck of a person she’s in the middle of being intimate with, without thinking twice. she could rig someone's car to blow up with the turn of their key and not give a shit who else gets caught in the explosion. It had been drilled into her from before she really understood what any of it meant that her sole purpose in this world was to kill without question, without remorse and without conscience so why was the thought of a figment of her imagination possibly being in danger rattling her usually unbreakable cage?

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Clarke shook herself out of her frozen state and continued to peel herself out of the clingy, wet fabric of her lab coat, feeling incredibly unnerved at essentially catching those powerful green eyes staring at her undressing. She had felt the familiar presence since just after she had gotten to the Lab and had actively seeked it out a few times throughout the morning, to no avail. What disturbed her more than being watched though was although she now knew those eyes belonged to a killer, she felt no threat from them. Rather it all felt quite calm and soothing. Safe almost, which actually scared the hell out of her considering she still had nightmares of  Margaret Chapel’s body sprawled out on the couch, head skewed at the wrong angle and a completely unaffected brunette with cold eyes walking away without a second glance.

 

Finishing up with decontamination Clarke reached out to hit the stop button and took a few steps to a cupboard built into the wall, opening the door and retrieving a towel to wrap herself in she secured the towel in place just as her mother burst through the door next to her looking a cross between angry and panicked.

“Mom! What are you doing here?” Clarke had arrived at the facility at around 4am when she had given up on trying to sleep when her mind wouldn’t stop buzzing. Bouts of insomnia were not uncommon for Clarke and with the stress of the final stages of her and her parents project weighing on her and the almost constant preoccupation with researching anything and everything that could potentially give her answers to the strange connection she had felt but actively ignored her whole life, sleep had become a stranger to her.

 

Clarke watched her mother’s silent battle between worry and annoyance play out on her face as she took in the scene before her, Clarke imagined it looked bad, a flooded lab, with a visibly damaged counter and floor, broken glass scattered around and a bunch of delicate and expensive lab equipment very likely ruined by the water from the decontamination sprinklers she had set off. Anger clearly won out as her face hardened and all traces of concern drained away once she had scanned Clarke, still covered only by a towel for any injury.

“Well I do co own the facility Clarke” she replied harshly “what the hell happened?” she asked, trying to assess the extent of the damage.

 

Clarke sighed, knowing this would likely escalate in to one of their near famous yelling matches and feeling far too exhausted to even care. 

“I knocked over a couple of beakers and the result of them mixing was corrosive” She explained still managing to look sheepish, despite her own rising annoyance.

“Knocked over?” Abby repeated “How could you be so careless? You aren't some clumsy intern Clarke you need to start acting like it” she scolded “Chemicals aren't toys! And these labs are not your playground.” her mother was getting more and more worked up with every word “What were you even doing? None of this looks remotely related to the project and for that matter why are you here so early?” 

 

Clarke checked the clock on the wall 8:30am was hardly early, but surely her mother had deduced that she’d likely been here for sometime before the accident.

“It’s nothing mom, just a little side project i was working on” She said hoping her mother wouldn’t ask for details, she really wasn’t in the mood to try and explain exactly what she had been doing, or why she had been doing it. “And I got here early because I couldn’t sleep and i was going nuts just sitting around idle in my apartment” Clarke avoided her mother’s inquisitive gaze as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place, Abby knew her daughter suffered insomnia when stressed and she knew her daughter well enough to know that she had not been herself for the last week. Anger melted away into concern and she reached out lay a comforting hand on Clarke’s shoulder, “Honey if you aren't sleeping well you shouldn’t be here doing things that can potentially cause you harm, or blow the lab up.” Clarke nodded and opened her mouth to tell her mother she was going to go and find some dry clothes when her father scurried through the door and immediately started laughing at the sight that greeted him 

“You look like a drowned rat” he said between fits of laughter, Clarke rolled her eyes at her father’s antics, but smiled at him nonetheless as Abby swatted his shoulder “Jake, this isn’t funny”

 

Clearly Jake disagreed with his wife and continued to chuckle as his wife and daughter explained what happened. At the end of the story he regarded Clarke fondly and said “Well kiddo, that’s why we have insurance” he looked around briefly at the damage and shrugged “the only thing I care about is if you’re okay which clearly you are” looking back to his daughter he noticed she had begun to shiver, being wet in a cold, soaking lab with just a towel would do that he supposed. “Why don’t you go get dressed” he said and began to usher her out the door “We will organise someone to clean up in here and you can meet us out front when your done” Both Clarke and Abby looked at him surprised at the suggestion of meeting outside, normally they would just convene in one of their offices or a lab. “Well clearly we are all overworked and tired, so I am declaring a Griffin family work break” Jake's grin seemed to stretch clear across his face as he finished his thought “We’re all playing hooky for the day!”

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Allie stopped outside of a less than impressive looking property management firm and checked the details for her scheduled meeting, noting that she did in fact have the right place. This was not her first time using the specialised services of this particular firm, however it was the first time she had presented in person. Such matters were usually attended to under the anonymity of the deep dark web, this particular bit of business though she felt the desire to attend to personally.

 

She entered the building into a spacious reception area and the  _ Click, Clack  _ of her 4.5 inch stiletto heels on hard tile echoing through the space caught the attention of the lone receptionist seated at a long desk in the middle of the room. Allie watched her tracking her progress through the room and held her gaze as she made her approach. Once she was made it to the desk she waited, her face expressionless and set in stone until the other woman finally blinked and looked away, clearly intimidated by the silent exchange she broke the silence first.

“Welcome to the Cable property group, how may I be of assistance today?” Allie had to give the woman credit, her voice didn’t waver at all.

“I have a meeting with Director Jaha” she simply replied.

The young receptionist tapped a few keys on her keyboard and an elevator door dinged, Allie looked to the left and saw the doors sliding open. 

“Please step in to the elevator, Director Jaha is expecting you” Allie’s only response was a raised eyebrow directed to the younger woman before she strode to the waiting lift and waited for it to take her to her destination.

 

______________________________________________

 

Lexa stepped off the elevator on the top floor executive suite that was Director Jaha’s office for the second time in just over a week, having been summoned by the man with no explanation, not that the director of the Pacific coast branch of the world’s largest assassination syndicate needed to explain himself. She was surprised to see Jaha in the middle of a meeting with a dark haired woman, dressed nicely in long flowing red dress and matching heels she stood when the director indicated her arrival and turned malice filled dark eyes on Lexa, who had immediately decided she hated this women.

 

“Your reputation precedes you” Allie said as she took Lexa in looking mildly bored and utterly unimpressed “although to look at you I honestly can’t imagine why” she began to slowly circle the assassin,  _ So this is the great commander?  _  She thought “I hope you are as good as my contacts say you are.” Allie continued to study her and Lexa felt more like the woman was inspecting cattle rather than an actual person. 

“Why do they call such a little thing like you ‘The Commander’?” she asked, finally coming to a stop and facing her again.

Lexa kept her face blank and her tone even and disinterested, even though everything inside of her was screaming at her to put the bitch in front of her down “Because I am the best at what I do” she replied simply, maintaining eye contact with the woman who was not subtle in her attempts at intimidating her  _ Clearly the woman had never met Titus, after surviving that bald prick nothing can intimidate me  _ Lexa thought with some amusement.

 

Allie continued to regard the assassin she was assured was the best for a moment before seemingly making up her mind and turning to director Jaha “She’ll do” with that she collected up the purse that was sitting on the chair next to where she was seated when Lexa arrived, flung it over her shoulder and headed for the elevator. Stopping at the doors she turned back once more and added “Oh and Thelonious, I don’t like to be disappointed” before entering the lift and disappearing from sight.

 

Lexa watched Director Jaha closely as Allie delivered her poorly veiled threat and for a dark skinned man, he looked positively pale, he gulped once as he stared at the closed elevator doors, before seeming to remember that Lexa was still here.

“That was Allie Malangone, of Alli-Corp. One of the biggest medical research and pharmaceutical corporations in the world. Although many of her interests lay outside of that and she is a very important client of ours” he explained “And this is an assignment that will require your utmost focus and dedication” 

 

Lexa looked into the serious eye’s of the director and took in the grim look written across his features, whoever this woman was she clearly held power and apparently Jaha’s balls since she had never seen the man so rattled. She nodded once to indicate that she understood the importance of the task he was giving her and he dismissed her, telling her to prepare herself for San Diego and that the rest of the details would be sent down to her handler shortly. She stepped onto the elevator and spent the ride down reflecting on the meeting with Allie, it was unusual to say the least, the assets never met with the clients. It was all generally kept separate with the only information they received being the when, where and occasionally how. The whole thing left a bad taste in Lexa’s mouth and reinforced her first impression of disdain toward the woman. She briefly wondered if Allie had managed to make enough enemies that Lexa would one day be hired to target her, it was a nice thought. Poetic


	7. That feeling inside my bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa makes her way to San Diego, and has a feeling this assignment is going to suck

Lexa boarded her 6:59pm Delta airlines flight from Seattle non stop to San Diego at precisely 6:35pm via the private Jet Bridge, reserved for first class flyers. There were only a few people in the tunnel with her and she gave them all a subtle once over before dismissing each one of them as a potential threat, a couple of businessmen in expensive looking suits, carrying either a briefcase or laptop bag and all of them looking a little ragged after what had likely been a long boring day full of long boring meetings that most likely made them feel extremely important. A single woman dressed like she belonged to the New York upper east side Mom’s club and what looked to be a lesbian power couple holding hands in their matching Ann Taylor suits for women while tapping away on smart phones with their free hands.

 

After the short walk through the tunnel she reached the entrance to the Boeing 737 and was directed to her single window seat toward the middle of the cabin, it wasn’t often that her handler would splash out on first class tickets but after a brief and terrifying looking phone call with the director Gustus had informed Lexa that she would be “Flying up front this time, but don’t to get used it” She assumed it was due in part to director Jaha’s insistence that this was the most important assignment this branch of the syndicate had been given in years. Lexa didn’t know much about this Allie woman and quite frankly wanted to keep it that way. But it seemed as though she carried Jaha’s testicles around in that ridiculous little red purse.

 

Not that she was complaining, Lexa hated flying coach. It was crowded, the leg room was non existent, children screamed non stop and there was always some Jackass behind her kicking her seat. There was one particular flight she recalled from a couple of years ago where she had fantasized so vividly about ramming the flat of her hand in to the face of the smug looking 6ft tall 200 pound man constantly digging his knees in to the small of her back through the chair, with enough force to break his stupid nose before opening the emergency exit hatch and tossing the stunned, bleeding douche-bag out. That she had to turn around in her seat and check that he was in fact still there. It was quiet and relaxed in first class, there was room to breath, screaming kids didn’t exist and even the air smelled cleaner, which was ridiculous since the air was recycled through the pressurized cabin but the illusion was nice.

 

Lexa settled into her seat and secured her seat belt, there was plenty of time before take off and the seat belt light had yet to light up but if she did it now she wouldn't be distracted from the files she had to read through before morning and judging by the weight of the overstuffed folders in her bag it could take a while.

She rifled through her bag and checked everything was there. Four folders of information on the contract, an envelope with an employee ID and swipe card for Griffin Medical research facility along with a map of the facility itself and a second envelope stuffed with cash, a fake ID, rental car documents and confirmation details for a hotel booking. Lexa’s brow furrowed in confusion and she grabbed her phone shooting off a text to Raven, mostly because Gustus had been in a flap about the whole job and had so far just been annoying. 

 

_ Hey Rae, why a hotel? We have a bunch of safe houses in San D _

 

Lexa pulled out the top folder and started to flip through its contents while she waited for a reply, it looked to be a breakdown of the research and what samples she was required to track down and acquire. Her phone dinged and she picked it up to read Raven’s reply.

 

_ Yeah there’s shit loads of safe houses but they’re all 2 far from the Labs & U gotta look the part _

 

Lexa’s face screwed up even further in confusion as she tapped out a reply.

 

_ Look the part? _

 

She watched the screen as the ellipses danced to show Raven was typing.

 

_ Yes dingus, broke! You’re going in as a janitor can’t have you looking fancy. PS your rental car is a shit box  _

 

“Fuck” Lexa muttered under her breath she switched the phone off and dropped it in her bag trying not to scowl as she pictured a fleabag motel and lumpy mattress.  _ Oh well  _  She thought as she let out a sigh and directed her attention back to the file in her lap  _ at least it starts off with first class.  _ She tuned out the service announcement and read through the list of things she needed and the instructions on how to safely transport the samples she would be collecting (Stealing).

 

_ “Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seat belts sign. If you haven’t already done so…..” _

 

She twirled her pen around the fingers of her left hand as she read and occasionally stopped to scribble down some of her own notes or circle a particularly important instruction when she felt the plane begin to taxi toward the runaway, she gathered the stray pages and put them neatly back into the folder before swapping it with the next thick folder of instructions, as she vaguely listened to the second  announcement to be made through the cabin speakers.

 

_ “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Malcolm and I’m your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain Fisher and the entire crew, welcome aboard Delta Airlines flight DL2964, nonstop service to San Diego. Our flight time will be 2 hours and 55 minutes. We will be flying at an altitude of 30,000 feet and at a ground speed of 858 miles per hour. _

_ At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Also, your portable electronic devices must be set to ‘airplane mode’ until an announcement is made upon arrival. Thank you and we hope you enjoy your flight.” _

 

As the announcement ended the plane had made it to the beginning of the runway and Lexa could hear the engines kick up several notches as the plane suddenly shot down the airstrip and began its ascent at around 280 Mph. She peered out the window next to her as the plane made its climb to cruising altitude, watching as the city below her got smaller and smaller before turning back to the second folder and flipping it open, looking at the first page she could tell this was the folder with details of her targets and probably more personal information than she would need to carry out the assignment. Letting out an annoyed huff at the over abundance of details as she flipped through some of the pages she decided to buck up and read through it as quickly as she could. As much as she didn’t care about the details of her intended victims she also knew that with a job like this it was best to be completely prepared.

 

Flipping through a few pages she found the rundown of her targets and decided to start there.

 

**Target 1 - Jake Griffin** ; Born 1967 51 years old. 

Engineer and biomedical scientist, Co-founder, chairman and Co-head researcher of ‘The Griffin Medical research facility’ Graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1991.

Physical Attributes -  6’3” tall, fair complexion, blue eyes and short, light brown hair.

 

**Target 2 - Abigail Griffin**  Born 1968 50 years old.

MD and Doctor of biomedical science Co-Founder and Co-head researcher of ‘The Griffin Medical research facility’ Graduated from UC Berkeley 1992

Physical Attributes - 5’5” tall, slim, fair complexion, brown eyes and long light brown hair.

 

**Target 3 - Clarke Griffin**  Born 1993 25 years old. 

Doctor of Biomedical science, Daughter of Jake and Abigail Griffin Researcher at ‘The Griffin Medical research facility’ Graduated from the university of San Diego 2016

Physical Attributes -  5’5” tall, Slim, fair complexion, blue eyes, long blonde hair, beauty mark above left side of upper lip

 

Lexa quickly did the math in her head and realised that every single one of the Griffins and blown through multiple degrees years faster than they should have.  _ Huh, Family of overachievers  _ She thought, if cared more she would have been impressed. She turned to the next page, expecting to find a photograph of one or more of the targets but instead found more personal details for each family member. Raising her eyebrow she flipped quickly through the rest of the file to find the pictures she assumed had to be in there then back in the opposite direction when she didn’t find them on the first pass  _ What the hell?  _ She thought.  _ How am I supposed to ID these people with that brief physical description. They have to be here somewhere.  _ One more pass through the file and and a quick look through the last two files and Lexa was quickly becoming frustrated  _ What kind of idiot doesn’t put photos in the brief _ . She decided to read on and familiarize herself with the ins and outs of the job and worry about reference photos when she got to the hotel.

 

*****************************************************************************************

 

The rest of the flight went by quickly and Lexa had successfully disembarked and picked up her, as Raven put it "Shit box" rental car and made it to the hotel which was indeed a rundown fleabag of an establishment complete with an overweight, balding, greasy looking sleaze of a manager who’s ogling and foul comments as he deliberately stroked her palm while he handed her the room keys made her want to shower immediately, or shove him in to a wood-chipper.

 

Settling for the shower Lexa dumped her stuff on to the end of the bed and checked the door to the room had locked behind her before shooting another text off to Raven.

 

_ Remind me to punch you in the face for this nasty hotel! PS why are there no pictures of the targets in the brief? _

 

She unceremoniously tossed her phone toward the bed to land with her other stuff and headed straight for the small shower located in the dingy bathroom attached to the even more dingy single room that she got to call home for the next few days.

Lexa reached in to the stall and turned the water on as hard as it would go, which by all accounts wasn’t much more than a strong dribble, quietly cursing she reminded herself that she has been in far worse situations and shitty water pressure was not the end of the world. Stripping off she stepped under the feeble spray of water and attempted to wash away the grime from the flight and the thought of the unabashed leering from the degenerate at the check in desk, As the water trickled down her body she closed her eyes and let her mind wander back and was left wondering if it would actually be so bad stuffing him into a wood-chipper after all, in fact it would probably be a service to not only the community but possibly the entire human race if you really thought about it. Shaking in herself out of her thoughts with a ghost of a smile Lexa turned off the faucet and wrapped herself in the small scratchy hotel towel before heading back to her bag on the bed and rifling through it to find something comfortable to wear when there was a sharp knock at the door. 

 

Dropping the tank top she was holding Lexa did a quick sweep of her surroundings, just the one way in and out of the room because the window in the bathroom was to small to squeeze out and there was nothing she could effectively use as a weapon. The sharp knock echoed through her small room a second time. She tightened the towel around her body as she cautiously approached the door, of course there was no peep hole. Stepping slightly to the side of the door she opened it a crack and saw a man in a matching set of brown shorts and button down shirt with a green and blue star embroidered on one side of it and a lanyard hanging down from around his neck with a NorthStar Couriers ID card, quirking one eyebrow she opened the door further and saw him extend a medium sized cardboard box toward her as he said “You Alex Pine?” Lexa nodded at the man recalling her fake identity for this job was in fact Alex Pine and took the offered package, before she had really grabbed hold of it he was shoving an Ipad at her and saying “sign here” and was walking away again before Lexa had a chance to shut the door. Feeling eyes on her she looked up and saw the nasty hotel manager staring at her still partially wet, towel clad body. Rolling her eyes she slammed the door shut and contemplated a second shower, instead she placed the package on the growing pile of stuff on the bed and continued getting dressed before scooping up her phone and reading the reply from Raven.

 

_ Why the HELL would I remind you to slap me, i’m not stupid! Buck up, it will only be for a few days and then you can come home and continue being boring and moody. Why would you need photos? Dude crawl out from under your rock it’s one of the most famous families in the country, just under the Kardashians and BTW i’m sending you a little present YOUR WELCOME _

Lexa looked from her phone to the box the courier delivered, well that explains that

 

_ What’s a Kardashian?  _ She replied as she moved to the box and started to tear into it

 

_ OMG learn to google you fuckin hermit  _

Came Raven’s immediate reply

 

Lexa Ignored the message in favor of opening the box and peeked inside already disappointed in the contents. Picking up her phone yet again she typed back.

 

_ Gosh thanks for the ugly green jumpsuit _

 

Three little dots immediately started dancing on her screen  so she waited for the reply instead of tossing the phone away again

__          A) That’s your super sexy Janitor outfit _ _

  * _B) Look inside the box loser_



 

 

Instead of replying she picked the forest green janitor’s uniform up and realised it was way heavier than it should be so she felt around until she found where the extra weight was coming from and reached in to wrap her hand around cold steel and pulled out a Desert Eagle .50 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Turning it over in her hand she popped the clip out to see it was fully loaded before reloading it and stashing it in her bag. She tapped out a quick thank you to Raven before moving all the stuff she’d dumped on the bed, stripping the top couple of layers off and climbing in to discover that yes the mattress was as lumpy as she had envisioned earlier.

 

Yup, this assignment was going to suck, she could feel it in her bones just as well as she could feel the spring through the mattress poking her in the ass.


	8. insomnia and impossibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa makes preparations while a troublesome mattress spring interrupts her sleep and she comes face to face with the impossible

Lexa engaged the lock the moment she pushed the door of her room closed and immediately started to shed the horrendous and uncomfortable janitors uniform she’d had to wear for the last twelve hours. She had gotten up a little before sunrise after giving up on trying to sleep on the god awful mattress and gone for a run before starting her first day as a new member of the janitorial staff for the Griffin Medical research facility. She arrived fifteen minutes early like a good first day employee should and gritted her teeth and smiled politely through the three hour site induction and safety first spiel from Stan the site supervisor who looked old enough to have retired ten years ago and moved and spoke slower than a slug. The only upside to that experience was the guided tour of the entire premises and the fact that although Stan was at least 300 years old and slow as fuck, he was actually pretty sweet. Which was a nice change of pace from dealing with assholes like, Jaha and Titus on a regular basis.

The lay out of was a little frustrating as the labs were so far removed from the office space and the facilities independent server was so far away from both the labs and office’s which gave her more area to cover but not overly complex, it was basically just a big triangle with a bunch of connecting corridors. So at least she was able to familiarise herself with it reasonably well and had located most of the important elements of her assignment.

 

Server for obtaining research - check.

Cold storage for obtaining samples - check, she would just need to organised a way to safely transport them.

And the Laboratory the Griffins use most often to stage their deaths as an accident - check, although she would have to get in there alone so she could set up the explosive devices that would ignite the gas lines for an almighty boom that Raven, the self professed goddess of boom,  herself would be proud of.

 

She had spent the rest of her shift actually doing the work assigned to her by Stan while she figured out her game plan, plus the last thing she needed was to get herself fired before she had the chance to complete her mission.

Pushing off the door, now just in her underwear Lexa threw the uniform over the back of the only chair in the room and briefly wondered how normal people put up with the day to day grind of a shitty minimum wage job, she was pretty sure if she ever had to look at another mop after today it would be to soon. She decided to clean herself up and go over the files again to make sure she hadn’t missed anything in the plan that had been brewing in her mind throughout the day.

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

_ Blasting caps with remote activation and timers from the San D weapons Cache, 12 Volt travel refrigerator to fit in the car for moving samples without compromising them, Fuck this stupid spring I wonder if I can just pull it out? Should I just pull out the motherboards and take the lot or copy them to a portable?.. Who even uses this kind of spring mattress anymore, is this thing from 1871?  _

Lexa squirmed around on the hotel mattress trying to get away from the spring, that last night was poking her in the ass and somehow tonight was digging into her back, she rolled to her side and shifted to the edge of the bed, now it was poking her in the rib. Grunting and shifting to the other side of the small bed she let out a frustrated groan when she felt it poke her in her other rib. She cracked one eye open and crawled down the bed trying the opposite side. Now being poked in the ass again, she let out a frustrated groan and tried rolling back onto her side to no avail. It seemed that no matter where on the bed she positioned herself that damn spring was right there, waiting to jab her. Determined to ruin any chance she had of sleep.  _ Could a spring be determined to do anything? _ She thought as she tried scooting across the bed to lay on the diagonal. Now being poked in the mid spine “Fuck sake” she grumbled as she sat up and checked the time 4am, still too early to go on her run. Resigned to her fate of another sleepless night Lexa googled the closest 24 hour store, a Walmart on Murphy Canyon road. If she couldn’t sleep she may as well prepare.

The clock on the wall, centered above the reception desk ticked over to 8am when Lexa pushed her way through the front doors, using her swipe card. She had been busy in the four hours since she had given up on sleeping, first stop was the Walmart to first load up on coffee because Lincoln wasn’t there to glare disapprovingly at her for drinking it and after two days with next to no sleep she needed it, next stop was finding and purchasing a portable camping fridge and a spare car battery to hook it up to so she could transport the all samples Allie insisted she needed. Then to the tech section for a storage device big enough to hold all the information on the Griffins servers, biggest she could find was a eight terabyte external hard drive so she grabbed four to be safe, if she didn’t end up needing them all she would just ditch the leftovers, or give them to Raven.

Next stop after a brief drive was to the Syndicate's San Diego weapons cache locked away in an out of the way self storage unit for small but powerful blasting caps and a timer and remote so she could Macgyver a remote activated timed explosive to rig onto the labs gas lines which should after the initial blast, mix with the thermite accelerate she also took, to cause an inferno hot enough to disintegrate any evidence that it was anything but a tragic laboratory accident.

After all her preparations were made and she had gotten back to her room she still had time for breakfast, a short morning run, a shower, even if it was barely more than a dribble from the shower head and to pick up more coffee on the way to the research facility. Lexa made her way quickly through the corridors that led to the servers, with a messenger bag slung over her shoulder containing the portable hard drives, she wanted to get it all set up and copying while the building was still quite so she was less likely to be caught sneaking around in there. She would normally break back in in the dead of night when there was no one around and do it then but she had no idea how long it would take to transfer everything and she was starting to run low on time, worst case scenario is someone would see her and she’d have to kill them and hide the body, collateral damage.

Half an hour later Lexa slipped out of the server room having successfully started a data dump that would transfer all of the Griffins files on to the hard drives before hiding the devices from view while it copied over, checking the area visible from the door to make sure no one was around to witness her leaving the restricted area she quickly made her way to where the janitors rooms were so she could gather up a few props to make it look like she was working while she hunted down the samples she needed and prepared them to be moved. Assuming everything went to plan and the Griffins adhered to their schedule she would be ready to complete the assignment with in two days in a literal blaze of glory.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Lexa checked her watch while trying to hold back a yawn, it was almost 4pm and that meant she could get out of this maze of connected buildings and maybe finally get some rest. She had decided that she would take her chances with the gross weasel of a man at the hotel and try to get him to switch her rooms so she could escape the damn spring in the ancient mattress, that she was sure had it out for her personally. It had been a productive day for her despite two nights of no sleep and just about all of the prep work was done, she had located all the samples on the list and transferred them into Styrofoam boxes and stashed them in the back of the cafeterias cool room ready to grab and stash in the portable fridge still had to fix in to the boot of the rental car she would be driving back to Seattle in, knowing the battery she had to power the small fridge would not last more than about twelve to eighteen hours which would be cutting it fine since the drive would take at least twenty hours. She made a mental note to pick up a second battery.

Deciding the floor outside the main lab, that she had been moping around in circles for the past twenty minutes to try and catch a glimpse of any or all three of her targets, was clean enough she dumped the mop back into the wheeled bucket and started to push it back in the direction of the small cleaning cupboard, more than ready to just finish up for the day and try and find them tomorrow since all this prep work would be for nothing if she couldn’t even identify her marks.

Making her way past another smaller lab she caught a movement in her peripheral vision inside through the viewing window and stopped in her tracks to check out who was in there. A man who looked like he were at least six feet tall, with short light brown hair, his back turned, wearing a lab coat and she could see a the ends of safety goggles sticking out from behind his ears. She watched for a few more moments, wondering if she had just stumbled upon Jake Griffin. 

Looking closely, she could see the muscles in the back of the man’s jaw working, he was talking, she surmised. Taking a few steps closer to the viewing window Lexa looked around what she could see of the room when the man turned side on and she got a good look at his profile, he certainly fit the description. He kept talking and a shorter woman, roughly the same age appeared in her line of sight, a ghost of a smile on her thin lips as she moved to stand next to her taller colleague,  _ or husband _ Lexa thought. She too fit the description she had for Abigail Griffin. The woman reached out and touched his arm, rubbing up and down from his shoulder to his elbow.  _ Well  _ she thought  _ That certainly looks like an intimacy you would share with your spouse. _

She continued to watch as the two talked back and forward before she was taken by surprise by a slim blonde popping up from behind the other side of the counter the other two were working at, she must have been crouched down working on something for Lexa to have not noticed her earlier.  _ This has to be them.  _ Lexa thought  _ The older two match the description and a younger blonde, now she just needs to move the hair from her face so I can confirm it and get out of here. _

As if on cue the slim blond ran her hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face and Lexa was struck dumb, she froze in the spot she had been standing for the last few minutes, not able to move or breath or think. The whole world felt as though it had crashed to her feet and she could feel her heart smashing violently against her rib cage. The blonde, she knew the blonde. But she can’t have, it was impossible.  _ No, it is impossible.  _ Was the only thought bouncing, on loop around her otherwise empty mind.

After what felt like an eternity of mind splitting madness the word suddenly came back in to focus as the blonde’s eyes snapped up and locked on Lexa’s, She sucked in a large gulp of air and was hit all over again with a cacophony of sounds and images, a fragmented miss match of every vision she’d ever had of this woman before her swimming through everyone of her senses, igniting her nerve endings and causing her head to feel like it would split open and spill out onto the floor.

Clarke had felt the tell tale sign of the little hairs on the back of her neck prick up as she was pushing her hair out of her face, after standing up from reconnecting the gas connection in the lab she’d almost destroyed and managed to flood a few days previous, she had been working most of the day, with her parents to finish fixing the lab after it had been cleaned over the last few days. Unlike that day however, where she felt the presence calm and almost constantly, today it hit her like a ton of bricks, sudden and urgent. Almost panicked.

Locking eyes with those powerful, clear green orbs was not a surprise, it’s what always happened. She’d feel the presence, like someone watching her, she would look and see an almost spectral like figure and those green, green eyes and almost as soon as she’d see them they’d be gone again. What did surprise Clarke though was that this time, those eyes didn’t disappear, they didn’t look cold like they almost always did, they looked panicked, shocked and and they were still there. Not only were they still there, Clarke realised, but they were attached to a face, a young and beautiful that was attached to a young and trim looking body, a young trim body dressed in a janitor's uniform?

Clarke blinked a couple of times in stunned silence and when her gaze settled again on the woman on the other side of the viewing glass she felt her body move without her permission or conscious knowledge, one step forward toward the glass, one step forward toward the woman turning more and more pale, she could hear her parents voices asking what was happening, she could hear the confusion and concern in their voices but it all sounded so far away, all she could focus on was this striking figure in front of her, this woman she somehow knew but had never really seen, until right now.

That step however must have broken whatever spell the two women were under, whatever had been keeping them rooted in the moment because the very second after Clarke moved the woman dropped the mop she had been holding and dashed away, moving faster than anyone Clarke had ever seen and she was left staring at the space the other woman had just occupied, now, nothing but a mop spinning around in the bucket from the force of being dropped.


	9. Just another job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke needs to draw and Lexa spirals with indecision

Clarke stared after the girl long after she had retreated, wondering what the hell had just happened.  _ Those eyes,  _ She thought.  _ It had to be her, she knew me as well, why did she run?  _ Clarke was snapped out of her musings by a gentle hand on her shoulder, looking around and seeing her father watching her with worry shining through his kind eyes she tried and failed to offer him a reassuring smile. Coming out as more of a confused lopsided half grimace which just caused her father to look even more concerned and slightly alarmed as he couldn’t recall ever seeing that particular look on his daughters face before.

 

“Clarke, what was that?” he asked

Clarke shook her head “I’m really not sure dad, I wish I knew”

“Do you know her?” he tried again

Clarke started at her father for a moment, really not sure how to answer him, did she know her? How could she even begin to explain what those eyes meant,  _ Not just eyes  _ She reminded herself.  _ That face.  _ Suddenly inspiration hit, if this was truly the girl attached the presence she’d felt for most of her life, she needed to get it on paper, she had to draw her just in case she never saw her again, although Clarke had a feeling that certainly wouldn’t be the case.

 

“I.. Umm” she started as she pulled away from her father and moved toward the exit “No, I don’t know her, not really.” making it to the lab door and flinging it open she called out over her shoulder to her parents, both of who were watching on in confused silence as their daughter practically broke in to a run calling out “I gotta go, i'll see you bright and early for the meeting in the morning” and without a further thought to the lab, her work or her dumbfounded parents Clarke set off in the direction of home, already mapping out the face she’d finally caught a glimpse of. The arch of thick and shapely eyebrows, the sharp cheekbones, full lips and strong jawline.She moved through the public transport system on Sad Diego on autopilot, her fingers twitching the entire journey home until she finally broke through her front door at a jog, dropping her purse and keys and almost forgetting to close the door behind her in her rush to get to her art supplies.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Lexa paced back and forth from one end of her shitty little motel room to the next and back again, her thoughts all over the place not really able to focus on just one thing.

Lexa never paced but after what happened earlier she was filled with a nervous kind of energy that she had never before experienced, a kind of panic she didn’t really understand or think she would ever know and for the first time in her life she had no idea how to proceed and it was at once extremely disconcerting and incredibly frustrating.

 

She continued to circle around her little room, feeling more and more like a caged tiger, wanting to do something but not really being able to figure out what, so she just continued to move, back and forward then around and around when she felt too much like a yo-yo. Afraid that if she lost momentum the horrible reality of everything that had just happened would sink in. But despite her best efforts to push away the inner turmoil that was building it came crashing down anyway, like a ton of bricks invading her thoughts all at once.

 

_ Oh god she’s real, this whole time the girl I’ve been seeing in my dreams is real.. Clarke. Oh hell! _

 

_ Wait! If I could see her, could she see me? Everything I’ve done. What kind of a monster must she think I am? But she didn’t run. If she could see me this whole time as well she’d have known what I am and she’d have ran. Maybe it was like a one way mirror? _

 

_ No I saw recognition in her eyes, she knew me. How is any of this possible? Why didn’t she run?... oh _

 

_ Because I ran first.. Why the hell did I run? I don’t run! And I don’t pace! _

 

Lexa forced herself out of the spiraling thoughts that had invaded her mind only to realize that she had in fact stopped pacing, but the brief feeling of relief was short lived when she realised she had instead bundled herself into a corner and was sitting hugging her knees to her chest.  _ Well that’s new.  _ She thought, closing her eyes while hugging her knees even tighter and trying to slow her breathing, that she hadn’t realised had elevated almost to the point of hyperventilation.

 

“This isn’t me” she said out loud between slow, deliberate breaths “what the hell is happening?” she continued while still trying to focus on her breaths and bringing down her heart rate that had maintained a jack hammer like feeling in her chest since the moment she’d locked eyes on Clarke Griffin, the literal girl of her dreams, the women who was supposed to be her next target.

 

_ Supposed to be  _ Lexa thought, realizing that for the first time in her long active position as a killer for hire she had serious doubts about whether she could complete a mission. Thinking back over all the visions she’d had of Clarke throughout her life.

 

Clarke as a little girl running into the open arms of a man, she now knew to be Jake Griffin as he walked in through the front door of a nice looking home and swept her up to carry her over to her mother so the three of them could share a smiling hug.

 

Clarke still as a little girl waking her parents up by crawling into their bed early one morning complaining of the cold and pressing her cold little hands and feet against their warmth. That one had been so vivid a dream that Lexa could have sworn she could feel those icy feet pressing against her own skin.

 

Clarke about a year later meeting and playing with other children on a sunny day at a park, sharing snacks and racing each other to the top of the slide, where she had lost her balance and fallen to scrape her knee, the first indication of years of Lexa witnessing her uncoordinated clumsiness 

 

So many happy childhood memories of goofing off and laughing with her dad and precious moments spent bonding with her mother that morphed into visions of a headstrong teenager with pink dyed hair and ripped jeans fighting with her parents about curfews and homework and then into collage years with a tired looking young adult feeding a caffeine addiction and studying way harder than she should to graduate early, determined to make her parents proud.

 

A stark contrast to Lexa’s own life experience that consisted of martial arts and weapons training and competing against her fellow initiates while learning to push her mind and body to and beyond their limits. Learning the fine art of manipulation and lies, ways to blend in to any situation without raising suspicion. Not to mention all the ways you could possibly kill another person while fighting tooth and nail to survive the whole process. Then at age 18 completing the final stages of her training one on one with Anya that ended with her first solo kill, a graduation of sorts. 

 

There was no nurturing parents or love filled hugs surrounding her upbringing, no friends to laugh with or sneak out with past curfew. Just the hardened faces of her teachers or more accurately her masters. Titus being cruel, sadistic and unforgiving, Thelonious being cold and disinterested, only ever concerned with performance and how it affected his bottom line along with the countless other faces of instructors that came and went throughout the years of her training. Not all of them like Titus, some like Indra who although seemed cold and uncaring was respectful, fair and always made sure to prepare her charges with the best of knowledge and experience. Lincoln, who was fun and kind and cared about them, having gone through it all  himself just a few years prior and Gustus, who Lexa held a great deal of respect for, she had always been grateful that it was him who she was assigned to and not Titus or any of the others who treated them more like cattle then actual people.

 

Lexa’s eyes snapped open and she relaxed the grip on her knees before flinging herself up off the floor, shaking her head in disgust at her own weakness.  _ skulking in the corner like a coward, wallowing in self pity. Snap out of it! _

 

She began to pace around the room again, even more agitated then she had felt earlier. She could feel herself spinning out of control her thoughts once again becoming a jumbled mess

_ What is happening? Is this a panic attack?  _

_ No don’t be ridiculous, I don’t panic. Panicking is for the weak willed. _

The pacing continued, becoming more and more frantic. Her fists clenching and un-clenching by her sides as the spiral continued.

 

_ I can’t kill her right? If I am somehow connected to her it would be like killing a part of me? But then if I don't complete the mission, I'm dead anyway. They will kill me slowly for my failure and send someone else to kill her anyway. At least I can make it quick. _

_ But no.. I can’t… Can I? _

_ No _

 

Lexa stopped mid stride “No?” she said out loud, tasting the word on her tongue.

She had never said no to the syndicate before, had never even thought it a possibility.

 

_ But it's not a possibility.  _ She reasoned with herself starting up the trek around her room again, not being able to stand still. _ Even if I bail on the mission and make a run for it, where would I go? There is no hiding from an organisation like this. There are agents everywhere, we are trained to track people down.  _

 

_ I could grab her and run.. And just keep moving _

_ But if I take her they will still kill her parents.. But I don’t care about her parents.. Wait _

 

Lexa shook her head quickly side to side, as if trying to shake the thought right out of her skull

_ Do I care about Clarke? _

 

_ No this is stupid, I don't know this girl. She isn't even supposed to exist. How could I possibly care about her? _

 

She blinked a few times, again coming to a stand still, allowing that thought to wash over her, the familiar safe feeling that it bought with it making her feel more calm “I don’t care” She told herself.

 

“I don’t care” she repeated.  _ I can’t care _

 

Lexa took a deep breath, calming herself even further and blew it out slowly “I will not allow a girl I don’t know, a girl who shouldn’t even exist, reduce me to this” She spoke low and steady, trying to convince herself this was the right decision, the only decision.

 

“It’s just another job” she continued

 

“Just another job” Lexa finished her pep talk to herself and nodded once, with her course of action now decided she was determined to finish the mission regardless of her inner conflict she decided to try and sleep. It had after all been a few days and with the stakes now even higher she needed a decent rest.

 

Stripping down to her underwear, too tired to bother digging out sleep clothes she took the few steps across the room to the bed and flopped down on her back in the middle of the mattress, only to be jabbed in the butt.

 

“Gah this fucking spring!” she called out, in all the turmoil from the afternoon Lexa had completely forgotten to request a different room. Flying back out of bed she hit the wall in a rage and felt her fist slide into the weak plasterboard like a hot knife through butter. Feeling wholly unsatisfied with the lack of resistance from the wall Lexa shoved her other fist into it with the same result.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

It was 4:30 am the next morning when Lexa entered the Griffin Medical Research Facility for what would be the last time, she would complete her mission today, or die trying. She had made a mental list of everything she needed to get done before the Griffins were due to be in the lab after an early morning meeting, according to the schedule she had stolen from Jake’s personal assistant.

 

She still had to collect the portable drives that should have transferred the entirety of the facilities server on to them, it would be hell to sort through later but at least this way nothing important would be accidentally missed. Once that was done she would have to retrieve the required samples she had stashed and get them into the cold storage in her car and then finally set the charges in in the lab and along the gas lines to ensure not only the death of the targets but also the complete destruction of the facility and everything they had been working on, as per The client's instructions.

 

Lexa made a beeline for the server room to get started, she may have arrived hours early but she wanted everything set and ready before anyone else arrived and hiding all of the charges would be time consuming. She moved quickly and within ten minutes she had retrieved the drives and stuffed them into a backpack that swung loosely from her right shoulder before heading to the cool-room she had stashed the samples in to the day before.

 

She had made it back to her car and was halfway through transferring the samples into the fridge set up in her trunk when she hit her first hiccup.

“Well good morning there young lady” Came the cheerful greeting of Stan, the sweet old man who had done her induction to the site just a few days ago.

“Fuck” she muttered under her breath, Hoping he didn’t pay too much attention to what she was stuffing into her car.

 

“Stan” she called back, by way of greeting. Lexa looked up to see that he was in fact making his way over to her and had clearly spotted the stolen samples if the look of grandfatherly disappointment making its way into his kind eyes was any indication.

 

“Shit” She cursed out loud as he got closer still, the disappointment now spreading to the rest of his face.

“Shit indeed” He replied, leveling her with a stern look that she imagined might make someone less jaded than her squirm “Now dear, you have to know that I can’t let you leave with those” He gestured toward the trunk of the car and continued forward, beginning to reach out to retrieve them while shaking his head and making some kind of tutting noise with his tongue. 

“And i’m afraid I will have to ask you to come inside with me and wait for the police” Lexa intercepted the hand that was now only inches away from its intended target gripping it a little harder then she needed. 

 

Stan recoiled from the strong grip on his arm, clearly not expecting such strength from the young woman in front of him “I’m afraid I can’t do that Stan” She said as she spun the man around and pulled his back tight to her front, gripping an arm around his throat in a choke hold and began to squeeze effectively cutting off Stan’s supply of oxygen and the delivery of blood to his brain.

 

Lexa felt the last bit of air escape from Stan’s lungs and whispered an apology in to the man’s ear as he slumped forward in her arms. She heaved him up and over her shoulder, looking around for a place to stash the now lifeless body, cursing him out for his shitty timing. She hated collateral damage, especially when it was someone as nice as Stan had been to her.

 

                                                                                        *********************

 

Once she had found a place to hide Stan, Lexa finished up with the samples and moved on to the next job. Planting the explosives had taken longer than she had anticipated and time was beginning to feel like it was slipping away, she finished up as fast as she could and found a small alcove to wait. It was far enough from the lab door that she wouldn’t be easily spotted by anyone approaching but close enough that she had a good view of both the doorway and through the view window of the lab. 

 

Once they arrived she would have 10 minutes to get to her car and far enough away from the blast radius, it would be cutting it close but she couldn’t afford to leave the countdown any longer and give one or all of the targets time to escape if something in their plans changed or they stumbled upon one of the charges.

 

Lexa didn’t have to wait long before she heard their approach, she could clearly hear the conversation between the three, discussing the meeting they had just come from. They were enthusiastic about the possibility of moving their work on to live trials in the upcoming weeks and Lexa couldn’t help to feel a little sad that their enthusiasm would go to waste and their research would instead be utilized by the deplorable Allie. 

 

A full five minutes had passed since her three targets had entered the lab, it looked like they had settled in to a routine pretty quickly with each member of the family seeming to have their own tasks to work on. Lexa looked at the remote device in her hand for what felt like the one hundredth time since she had laid eyes on the Griffins, It was still early morning and if she set the timer now she would not only have enough time to escape but the collateral damage would be minimal since the bulk of the workers wouldn’t be arriving for another half hour. But still she continued to stare at the little device, hesitant. 

 

She looked up again, the Griffins  _ The targets!  _ She mentally scolded herself for humanizing them too much by thinking their actual name. It would make the process so much easier if she didn't think of them as actual people. Hadn’t moved, all of them looked fully focused on their work. Lexa bit her lip as she looked back at the detonator.  _ I have to  _ She told herself.

_ This is what I was born to do, It’s the only reason I exist. This is just the same as any other job.  _ She continued to psych herself up

 

Taking a deep breath through her mouth and releasing it through her nose, trying to calm her steadily escalating heart rate she allowed her eyes to drift close and drew one last calming breath, flipping the activation switch on the exhale. She slowly opened her eyes and quickly shuffled out of her hiding spot, turning her back on the Griffins and moving down the hallway as quickly as she dared toward her escape. 

  
_ Just the same as any other job.  _ She reminded herself as she fled.


	10. Kaboom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa races against the clock to try and save the Griffin family after setting off the explosive that was supposed to kill them.

 

Lexa stopped dead in her tracks and glanced down at her watch _8 minutes until boom_ She thought _8 minutes_ _to get to the car and get the hell outta dodge._ She willed her feet to move but they just wouldn’t cooperate.

_ Come on!  _ She tried to convince herself  _ Just 8 minutes until there’s no more Griffin medical research facility, 8 minutes until there’s no more Griffin Family.  _ Lexa checked her watch, 7 minutes 30 seconds. She flicked her gaze from the watch to her feet, still stubbornly rooted in place.

 

_ 7 minutes 30 seconds until there’s no more blue eyed blonde visiting my dreams. _

 

With that thought a light bulb went off in Lexa’s mind and it all made sense. Why her feet refused to move, why she couldn’t look away from her watch counting down the seconds and why it felt like her stomach was simultaneously trying to turn itself inside out and crawl its way up and through her mouth. She swallowed around the lump in her throat, running her hands through her hair she turned back toward the lab and stared back in the direction she’d just come from.

She couldn’t do it she realised, she just couldn't leave the girl who she had watched grow up alongside her in snippets of dreams to die.

 

_ Fuck!!   _ Lexa groaned

“Oh fuck it” She said out loud as she broke in to a run, checking her watch again as she went _. _   6 minutes, She had 6 minutes to figure out exactly how she could save Clarke and not kill herself in the process.

 

One foot in front of the other Lexa bolted back down the hall, her arms pumping at her sides trying to propel herself faster, back toward the girl she just couldn’t let go of while mentally counting down the minutes and seconds before she got herself killed right alongside the Griffin’s if she couldn’t figure out how to get Clarke to come with her and fast.

 

It’s not like she could just kick down the door and exclaim “Come with me if you want live” right? No course not! This wasn’t a movie, It was real and she was officially out of time to plan.

 

Lexa ran past the spot where she had been hiding when she had set the remote activation for the bomb and took the few extra paces toward the lab, bursting through the door and in to the lab occupied by the Griffins without thinking locking eyes with a confused, alarmed and slightly irritated looking blonde. 

 

“You have to get out!” she yelled, her mouth acting without her expressed permission. All three members of the Griffin family stared at her blankly and Lexa cursed herself for not actually planning ahead, She was a meticulous planner. Every action in every mission carefully planned out with a back up plan for her back up plan. Lexa did not simply make things up as she went along and now given her apparent epic failure to get any of her targets to move even an inch let alone flee with her for their lives she could see why.

 

Huffing a frustrated sigh she realised her feet were once again doing their own thing and she found herself moving rapidly toward the blonde with who she had been locked into a staring contest. Then three things happened all at once and she gave herself over to her instincts to guide her through whatever was about to happen next.

 

First as she moved toward Clarke she noticed the girl become more and more fearful, her face contorting into shocked surprise and apprehension and she started to slowly step backward, at the same time she noticed Abigail Griffin begin to move closer to her daughter in an instinctively protective manner as Jake Griffin began to move toward Lexa in an attempt to stop her continuing forward toward Clarke.

 

Lexa kept her eyes on Clarke and she reached out for Jake at the same time he reached for her and flipped the man on to his back using his own momentum, while simultaneously upping her pace in to a run she noticed Clarke's eyes widen in shock and the girl started toward her fallen father before Lexa reached her and scooped her up throwing her over one shoulder, her arm tightly wrapped around the girls upper thighs keeping her in place despite the knees thrashing against her chest as the girl automatically struggled to get free. 

 

Having the girl safely in her custody Lexa’s first instinct to bolt back to the car and drive the hell away as fast as she could was overridden by the sudden and overwhelming feeling that Clarke would never forgive her if she left her parents there to die. 

 

Decision made she turned toward Abigail and with a grunt of exertion threw her over the other shoulder and ran full speed back the way she came, leaving Jake Griffin to pick himself up and chase after the girl who had just thrown his entire family over her shoulders as if they were nothing more than rag dolls. But holy crap were they a whole lot heavier than dolls!

 

Lexa had barely made it down two corridors by the time she could feel her legs starting to buckle under the weight of two grown women and an ache in her lungs starting to form. At this rate she wouldn't make it out of the building before it exploded and Jake had started to gain on her  _ Shit, shit, shit  _ She thought as she pumped her legs harder and willed herself to go faster. 

 

Her internal count still going in the back of her mind, 4 minutes 30 seconds. She rounded another corner and pushed harder as she could feel a surge of adrenaline being pumped into her system. _  Nearly there  _ She thought pumping her failing legs harder still.

 

Bursting out the fire exit door and in to the car park Lexa didn't think she had ever felt so relieved. She was so close! She through everything she had in to a final surge and bolted to her waiting car. Flinging the back door open and tossing Clarke in ass first.

 

She had just begun to swing Abigail in behind Clarke when Jake finally caught them and she felt herself tumble to the ground as he body slammed her away from the car, snatching up his wife in the process.

 

_ Ouch  _ She thought as she half rolled and half stumbled back up to her feet, groaning on the way up.  _ 2 minutes left  _ she thought as she was knocked back on to her ass by Jake Griffins surprising fast and strong right hook.

 

“I do not have time for this” she muttered as she hopped back to her feet and swung her own right hand in to a powerful uppercut, knocking the man out before he even hit the ground. She looked up to see Abigail trying to help Clarke out of the car and ran full force at the women shoving her and Clarke in to the back seat, slamming the door behind them. She turned back and pulled Jake in to a fireman's lift and stumbled under his weight, throwing him into the front seat before climbing over him and starting the car while glancing down and her watch, having lost track of her count down after being knocked to the ground twice. 

 

_ 45 seconds, oh shit!  _ Lexa popped the car in to gear and shot off as fast as the car could go, climbing through the gears in rapid succession  _ 45 seconds is not enough to time to get clear  _ she thought as she navigated through the car park and smashed straight through the electric boom gate at the entrance, usually it would open with a swipe card, but she didn’t have time to stop and she didn’t much care if she wiped out the front of the piece of shit rental car Raven had organised for her. If they survived past the next 30 seconds she would have to ditch it anyway.

 

Lexa gained speed as fast as she could, putting as much distance between them and the Facility as possible.  _ 10 seconds, _ she glanced at the back seat to see both Griffin woman wide eyed and clearly frightened “I would get down if I were you” she said and was met only with two blank stares “Get down now!” she yelled and both women complied immediately just as a blinding light lit up the early morning sky and the inside of the car, followed by an ear splitting crack and almighty Kaboom.

 

Lexa kept an eye on the rear-view mirror and saw the back window start the crack but thankfully it remained in tact, she let out a sigh of relief and looked to the still unconscious man in the passenger seat next to her, he looked okay. He would have a sore jaw and a killer headache when he eventually came to but otherwise it didn’t look as though she had caused much damage. Glancing behind her a second time she noticed both women still had their heads down with their arms wrapped around each other. “It’s okay” she told them “You can sit up, it’s safe now.”

 

She turned back toward the front but flicked her eyes up to watch them both slowly sit back up and begin to process what had just happened. Lexa took a deep steadying breath as she continued to drive, as fast as possible from the scene of what she could only describe as her biggest ever fuck up.

 

_ Now what the fuck do I do?   _ She thought as the reality of what she had just done sank in.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

”Oh my god”, Clarke said, cupping one hand over her mouth in horror while she steadied herself with the other against the passengers side window , looking out through the rear windshield at the inferno that was her family's life work burning brighter and hotter then any fire she’d ever seen “how is that even possible?”

 

Lexa looked in the rear-view mirror trying to get a look at the shocked girls face. Only being able to see a small part of her profile 

“Thermite” She replied

 

“Thermite!!??” Clarke squeaked out, shocked … “Who would?...” She stopped mid way through asking not really knowing if she wanted that particular question answered just yet “how is…?” she stopped again, apparently today was not the day for her to be able to form a complete sentence. 

 

She turned back around in her seat before adding “Wait… how did you!?” Clarke paused blinking a few times before making eye contact with their apparent savior in the rear-view mirror blurting out “...It was you! You did this!” Clarke accused as it all finally fell in to place. How else would the woman with the eyes that have haunted her for as long as she could remember, the woman she was sure she somehow witnessed callously breaking another person’s neck during an intimate moment, know the details about the explosion that had almost killed them all.

 

“That makes no sense Clarke” her mother piped up, speaking for the first time throughout the ordeal and coming to the defense of the stranger who had just saved them.

 

“How else would she have known about the explosion in the first place?” Clarke bit back, her eyes never leaving the other woman's in the mirror, that were bouncing rapidly between watching the road as she continued to direct the car away from the blast and locking on to the clear blue of Clarke's.

 

“How else would she know it was thermite?”

 

From the corner of her eye Clarke could see her mother’s mouth open and close a few times before she settled for half way between, somewhat resembling a surprised Cod fish Clarke thought as her mother finally took a deep breath her face screwing up in confusion.

 

She continued staring the other woman down when the stranger? Finally spoke again “Clarke’s right” she said “I was the one who set the bomb. I tried to kill you.”

 

Clarke opened her mouth to tear in to the woman who had just admitted she had tried to kill her entire family when her mother spoke up instead.

 

“I’m sorry and who are you exactly?” Abby asked “And why would you try to kill us and then pull us all out instead?”

 

_ Huh, I hadn’t even thought to ask that  _ Clarke thought before adding in “yeah, who the hell are you?”

 

“Lexa” The girl with the haunting green eyes replied, without diverting her attention from the road.

 

“And the rest?” Clarke asked again when it seemed clear that Lexa wasn’t going to give them anything else.

 

She watched as Lexa took a deep breath and clenched the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles turned white with the effort and having experienced first hand how strong the girl is Clarke was almost expecting to see it buckle under the pressure.

 

“I’m an assassin” Lexa spoke through clenched teeth, refusing to meet Clarke eyes in the mirror even as Clarke’s stare burned in to her.

 

“That doesn’t really explain much” She heard her mother say beside her, Lexa’s eyes shot up then and she swallowed hard, throat bobbing and opened her mouth to speak before closing it again jaw clenching. Clearly the woman was having trouble figuring out what to say and how much she wanted to reveal to them.

 

“Why don’t you just start at the beginning?” she suggested, hoping to prompt the girl. What she wasn’t expecting was the dark chuckle the self professed assassin let out.

 

“That would take way too long” she replied “What I can offer you at the moment is that I work for an organisation called The Syndicate and they were engaged in a contract to end your lives and to take possession of your research” She stopped for a beat allowing that information to absorb before continuing “And now that I have reneged on that contract, I have more than likely doomed us all to a very ugly and painful death.” 

  
_ Well fuck,  _ Clarke thought.  _ That is not how I thought that would play out. _


	11. Now we fight..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake regains consciousness and gets all caught up on whats happened and the crew take a minute to breath.

> _ Hello all my lovely readers. _
> 
> _ I am so, so, so sorry you had to wait so damn long for this update. Work blew up (not boom blew up just got stupidly busy), new relationship, health problems and a brief holiday all equaled yours truly having no free time at all. I hope you enjoy this update and I will try and get chapter 12 out ASAP _
> 
> _ Thank you for your patience!!  _
> 
>  

 

Lexa maneuvered the car down a long driveway toward the safe house, one of many in the area that belonged to the syndicate. It was risky coming here but she knew that she still had a little time before they figured out what happened and she needed supplies if she stood any kind of chance of surviving this shit show she now found herself in and she knew that this would be a safe place to get everything she needed and maybe even lay low for a few hours while she figured out her next move.   
  


Pulling up as close to the back door as she could manage to try and keep the car out of sight she noticed Jake Griffin, the patriarch of the family she had just stupidly saved starting to stir. She had been grateful for the silence in the car over the last hour or so that they had been driving since the explosion, it had not only given her time to calm down and recenter herself but also to process the events of the last 24 hours.

 

Lexa swung the drivers door open and hopped out of the car just as she heard Jake let out a low groan, both hands coming up to cup his head. She peered into the back of the car to see both Abigail and Clarke leaning forward to check on him.

“Can you explain while I go and make sure the place is secure?” she spoke to both women, gesturing to man slowly coming to, hoping that by the time he had properly regained consciousness and saw her again he wouldn’t just throw himself into another fight with her. She didn’t particularly want to have to knock him out again. 

 

Clarke gave her a small nod and Lexa grabbed the keys from the ignition, not wanting to risk them trying to make a break for it and proceeded to the back door to punch in the code for the security system. It would register in the syndicate’s system but there was no way that they would know yet what she had done and if they did it was unlikely that anyone would be able to get to her before she had moved on. 

 

Lexa glanced back over her shoulder at the Griffin’s to see Jake seemed to be completely awake and listening intently to his wife and daughter, throwing the occasional glance in her direction. Satisfied that the man wouldn’t cause any problems for the moment she reached under the back of her shirt and popped the Desert Eagle .50 caliber Raven had sent her in the beginning of all of this from its holster and cautiously entered the house

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Clarke watched her father as he absorbed everything her and her mother had just explained had happened in the space of his unconsciousness, from the girl who knocked him out to the lab explosion and where they were now. He slowly began to nod before making eye contact, a half smile starting to form “Well I have to say i’m relieved” he stated.

 

Clarke had not expected that “what do you mean you're relieved?” she questioned, wondering if he had a concussion after all.

 

“Well” he continued “When I woke up with this splitting headache, I assumed you had blown something up, again” he winked “at least this time it was someone else”

 

Clarke rolled her eyes at her father “really dad?” she scolded “we were nearly all just murdered and you’re cracking jokes?” before gently slapping his shoulder “and I only caused that one very small explosion, once… and almost nothing was damaged”

 

Jake laughed heartily at that, remembering the ‘small’ explosion Clarke had caused one day while she was helping him out in his home lab while she was still a junior in high school before clutching his head in his hand and groaning “oh kid, don’t make me laugh this headache is a bitch”

 

“Jake” Abby said in a warning tone “Language”

Jake looked back up as Clarke rolled her eyes at her ever prim and proper mother she looked over her shoulder to shoot some sarcastic remark when she noticed Lexa, their Assassin/savior return from ‘securing the house’ 

“Speaking of bitches” she muttered under her breath as she straightened up and nodded her understanding when the woman waved them in. She turned back to where her father still sat in the car and offered him her hand but he shooed her away standing on his own with an almost imperceptible grunt and the three of them walked together to the door they were being beckoned from

 

The trio reached Lexa in just a few seconds the women cautiously held her hand out to Jake. Clarke watched her father intently, not sure how ready he was to embrace the hand of the person who nearly killed him and his entire family while effectively wiping out everything he had ever worked for, Clarke knew her father to be a fun loving goofball but she also knew he had worked extremely hard and took a lot of pride in his work and accomplishments not mention how fiercely protective he was of his wife and daughter. His glance shifted between the offered hand and the eyes of the woman standing before him offering it for a few moment before he gently shook his head.

 

“I’m sorry” he said gently “but you haven't earned that yet”

 

Lexa nodded once in understanding and lowed her hand as she stepped aside to allow them entrance, her face stoic and unreadable.

 

Once the family had entered and Lexa had closed the door behind them she turned back to address them all at once, her tone calm and even “There is a bathroom upstairs to the right and the room directly opposite has a selection of clothing, I suggest you all get cleaned up and take what you think you will need for the next few days at least and there is a well stocked kitchen just through there” She pointed off the the side down a corridor. “I have preparations to make” she continued “We leave again in one hour.”

 

Clarke immediately became irritated at the overly calm and controlled tone coming from the woman, in fact now that her initial fear and shock had subsided all she could feel was anger bubbling up inside and demanding to be let out, who did this woman think she was? How dare she burst into her life, turn it on its head and then immediately start giving orders. 

 

“What makes you think we will be going anywhere with you?” Clarke demanded her tone cold and biting, but Lexa didn't even flinch at it. The other woman simply glanced in her direction and in the same calm and controlled tone said “If you and your family want to continue breathing after the next few hours, you will do exactly as I say, when I say”

 

“Is that a threat?” Clarke demanded taking a half step toward the other woman

 

Lexa did blink at that “No” She said 

“It is a simple statement of fact” she continued, tilting her head to one side while regarding the blonde in front of her “The Syndicate do not give up after one failed attempt. They will keep coming at you, harder and harder until you are dead and because it was me who failed to kill you in the first place it will be my head first on the chopping block.” she regarded the Clarke for a moment before continuing “So unless you have some experience in fighting off assassins it might be a good idea to shut up and do as you are told”

 

“Why do you even care?” Clarke asked in a quieter tone, the reality of their situation once again sitting in and taking priority over her anger at having her life so dramatically interrupted.

 

Lexa glance down quickly avoiding the other girls eyes who’s gaze she had so steadily been holding just moments before, clearly taken back by the quietly spoken question.

 

“I don’t know yet” she admitted before turning on her heel and striding away from the Griffin’s with as much confidence and dignity as she could muster.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Lexa made quick work of sorting through the safe house’s armory and picked out as many useful tools, weapons and ammunition as she could stuff in to an over-sized duffel bag, all the while keeping a keep ear out for anything that might be happening upstairs. She had heard the shower turn on and off numerous times over the three quarters of an hour and could currently hear the Griffins shuffling over head in the kitchen.

 

She Slung the heavy bag of weapons up onto her shoulders, which were still aching from the exertion of carrying two grown women at full speed out of a maze of a building earlier that morning and from the stress of the last few days preparing for a mission she did not get to see through and barely sleeping. Ignoring the pain she trudged up the stairs toward where she could hear the voices of her three unlikely companions.

 

“I don’t like any of this but maybe for now it’s our best option” she could hear Jake's low dulcet tone carrying down the stairs. She slowed her ascent and listened carefully to the end of the conversation she had inadvertently walked in on

 

“Dad, it’s just.. This woman” Lexa heard Clarke argue “She’s dangerous and I just don’t think we can trust her, I want to. God knows I would love to think this is all as easy as she changed her mind and wants to protect us. But how can we trust that?” 

 

Lexa held her breath and stood as quietly as she could, listening to Clarke speak of her distrust toward her gave her an odd feeling, it was uncomfortable and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

 

“How do we know this isn’t all part of a larger plan? Or that if it is what she says it is, that she won't just flip again and decide it's easier to kill us?”

Lexa chose this moment to make her presence known, speaking up as she rounded the corner in to the kitchen.

 

“You’re right Clarke, I am dangerous and you would be a fool to trust me so easily. But I can assure you that if I wanted you dead, you would be dead and you would not have seen it coming”

 

The entire Griffin clan looked startled at the sound of Lexa’s voice, not realizing they had been listened to or for how long at least two of the group had the good sense to look slightly sheepish, Clarke on the other hand stared defiantly at the assassin.

 

“So why then should we trust you?” she challenged

Lexa cocked her brow slightly at the defiance in Clarke’s tone, this girl might not trust her but she didn’t seem afraid of her and Lexa liked that.

 

“Because I am your best bet at staying alive for the foreseeable future” Clarke looked as though she would continue arguing so Lexa raised her right hand in a stop motion before continuing. “Let me guess? You think you can lay low and let this all blow over, then get back to your regular lives? Well I have news for you Princess. That is not how this works, as of now you have no life to get back to, if you or your family ever raise your heads they will be shot off, you will be hunted until every last one of you and possibly everyone you have ever known are dead because that is what the syndicate does. They kill people and if you manage to escape that then you and every trace of you are wiped out, erased. Do you understand?”

 

Clarke finally had the good sense to look scared, she swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat and nodded at the woman currently staring her down. “Yes” she replied

“So what now?” she continued “are we just supposed to stay dead?”

Lexa shook her head in reply, taking in the pale and tired looking faces of the Griffins, “No” she said “Now we fight”

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to wanhedaheda307 for all your support and encouragement so far and for listen to me crap on about all my crazy ideas 
> 
> and a special shout out to carramattews31 for reading it through and convincing me its not total crap :D


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